Molecular targets and compounds, and methods to identify the same, useful in the treatment of joint degenerative and inflammatory diseases

ABSTRACT

The application discloses methods for identifying and using compounds that inhibit extra-cellular matrix (ECM) degradation and inflammation, using a polypeptide sequence including SEQ ID NO: 17-127 (hereinafter “TARGETS”) and fragments thereof, expression inhibitory agents such as antisense polynucleotide, a ribozyme, and a small interfering RNA (siRNA), comprising a nucleic acid sequence complementary to, or engineered from, a naturally occurring polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 17-127, useful in pharmaceutical compositions comprising said agent, for the treatment, or prevention, of chronic joint degenerative and/or inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/619,384, filed Oct. 15, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods for identifying compounds, and expression-inhibition agents, capable of inhibiting the expression of proteins involved in the pathway resulting in the degradation of extra-cellular matrix (ECM), which inhibition is useful in the prevention and treatment of joint degeneration and diseases involving such degradation and/or inflammation.

Diseases involving the degradation of extra-cellular matrix include, but are not limited to, psoriatic arthritis, juvenile arthritis, early arthritis, reactive arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis. osteoporosis, muscular skeletal diseases like tendonitis and periodontal disease, cancer metastasis, airway diseases (COPD, asthma), renal and liver fibrosis, cardio-vascular diseases like atherosclerosis and heart failure, and neurological diseases like neuroinflammation and multiple sclerosis. Diseases involving primarily joint degeneration include, but are not limited to, psoriatic arthritis, juvenile arthritis, early arthritis, reactive arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic joint degenerative disease, characterized by inflammation and destruction of the joint structures. When the disease is unchecked, it leads to substantial disability and pain due to loss of joint functionality and even premature death. The aim of an RA therapy, therefore, is not to slow down the disease but to attain remission in order to stop the joint destruction. Besides the severity of the disease outcome, the high prevalence of RA (˜0.8% of the adults are affected worldwide) means a high socio- economic impact. (For reviews on RA, we refer to Smolen and Steiner (2003); Lee and Weinblatt (2001); Choy and Panayi (2001); O'Dell (2004) and Firestein (2003)).

Although it is widely accepted that RA is an auto-immune disease, there is no consensus concerning the precise mechanisms driving the ‘initiation stage’ of the disease. What is known is that the initial trigger(s) does mediate, in a predisposed host, a cascade of events that leads to the activation of various cell types (B-cells, T-cells, macrophages, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, dendritic cells and others). Concomitantly, an increased production of various cytokines is observed in the joints and tissues surrounding the joint (for example, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1, IL-15, IL-18 and others). As the disease progresses, the cellular activation and cytokine production cascade becomes self-perpetuating. At this early stage, the destruction of joint structures is already very clear. Thirty percent of the patients have radiographic evidence of bony erosions at the time of diagnosis and this proportion increases to 60 percent after two years.

Histologic analysis of the joints of RA patients clearly evidences the mechanisms involved in the RA-associated degradative processes. The synovium is a cell layer, composed of a sublining and a lining region that separates the joint capsule from the synovial cavity. The inflamed synovium is central to the pathophysiology of RA. The synovial joint is shown as composed of two adjacent bony ends each covered with a layer of cartilage, separated by a joint space and surrounded by the synovial membrane and joint capsule. The synovial membrane is composed of the synovial lining (facing the cartilage and bone), which consists of a thin (1-3 cells) layer of synoviocytes and the sublining connective tissue layer that is highly vascularised. The synovial membrane covers almost all intra-articular structures except for cartilage. Histological differences in the synovium between normal and RA patients are indicated in FIG. 1.

Like many other forms of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is initially characterized by an inflammatory response of the synovial membrane (‘synovitis’) that is characterised by an important influx of various types of mononuclear cells as well as by the activation of the local or infiltrated mononuclear cells. The lining layer becomes hyperplastic (it can have a thickness of >20 cells) and the synovial membrane expands. However, in addition, the hallmark of RA is joint destruction: the joint spaces narrow or disappear as a sign of cartilage degradation and destructions of the adjacent bone, also termed ‘erosions’, have occurred. The destructive portion of the synovial membrane is termed ‘pannus’. Enzymes secreted by synoviocytes lead to cartilage degradation.

This analysis shows that the main effector responsible for RA-associated joint degradation is the pannus, where the synovial fibroblast, by producing diverse proteolytic enzymes, is the prime driver of cartilage and bone erosion. In the advanced RA patient, the pannus mediates the degradation of the adjacent cartilage, leading to the narrowing of the joint space, and has the potential to invade adjacent bone and cartilage. As collagen type I or II are main components of bone and cartilage tissues, respectively, the pannus destructive and invasive properties are mediated by the secretion of collagenolytic proteases, principally the matrix metallo proteinases (MMPs). The erosion of the bone under and adjacent to the cartilage is also part of the RA process, and results principally from the presence of osteoclasts at the interface of bone and pannus. Osteoclasts adhere to the bone tissue and form a closed compartment, within which the osteoclasts secrete proteases (Cathepsin K, MMP9) that degrade the bone tissue. The osteoclast population in the joint is abnormally increased by osteoblast formation from precursor cells induced by the secretion of the receptor activator of NFkB ligand (RANKL) by activated SFs and T-cells.

Various collagen types have a key role in defining the stability of the extra-cellular matrix (ECM). Collagen type I and collagen type II, for example, are main components of bone and cartilage, respectively. Collagen proteins typically organize into multimeric structures referred to as collagen fibrils. Native collagen fibrils are very resistant to proteolytic cleavage. Only a few types of ECM-degrading proteins have been reported to have the capacity to degrade native collagen: matrix-metallo proteases (MMPs) and Cathepsins. Among the Cathepsins, cathepsin K, which is active mainly in osteoclasts, is the best characterised.

Matrix Metallo Proteases (MMPs) possess various physiological roles, for example, they are involved in the maturation of other proteases, growth factors, and the degradation of extra-cellular matrix components. Among the MMPs, MMP1, MMP2, MMP8 MMP13 and MMP14 are known to have collagenolytic properties. MMP1 is a member of the MMP family and is able to degrade native collagen, an important component of bone and cartilage. The correlation between an increased expression of MMP1 by synovial fibroblasts (SFs) and the progression of the arthritic disease is well-established and is predictive for joint erosive processes (Cunnane et al., 2001). In the context of RA, therefore, MMP1 represents a highly relevant collagen degrading protein. In vitro, the treatment of cultured SFs with cytokines relevant in the RA pathology (for example, TNF-α and IL1β) will increase the expression of MMP1 by these cells (Andreakos et al., 2003).

The activity of the ECM-degrading proteins can also be causative or correlate with the progression of various diseases other than RA, which diseases involve also the degradation of the joints. These diseases include, but are not limited to, psoriatic arthritis, juvenile arthritis, early arthritis, reactive arthritis, osteoarthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. Other diseases that may be treatable with compounds identified according to the present invention and using the targets involved in the expression of MMPs as described herein are osteoporosis, muscular skeletal diseases like tendonitis and periodontal disease (Gapski et al., 2004), cancer metastasis (Coussens et al., 2002), airway diseases (COPD, asthma) (Suzuki et al., 2004), lung, renal fibrosis (Schanstra et al., 2002), liver fibrosis associated with chronic hepatitis C (Reiff et al., 2005), cardio-vascular diseases like atherosclerosis and heart failure (Creemers et al., 2001), and neurological diseases like neuro-inflammation and multiple sclerosis (Rosenberg, 2002). Patients suffering from such diseases may benefit from a therapy that protects the ECM from enzymatic degradation.

Reported Developments

NSAIDS (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are used to reduce the pain associated with RA and improve life quality of the patients. These drugs will not, however, put a brake on the RA-associated joint destruction.

Corticosteroids are found to decrease the progression of RA as detected radiographically and are used at low doses to treat part of the RA patients (30 to 60%). Serious side effects, however, are associated with long corticosteroid use (Skin thinning, osteoporosis, cataracts, hypertension, hyperlipidemia).

Synthetic DMARDs (Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs) (for example, methotrexate, leflunomide, sulfasalazine) mainly tackle the immuno-inflammatory component of RA. As a main disadvantage, these drugs only have a limited efficacy (joint destruction is only slowed down but not blocked by DMARDs such that disease progression in the long term continues). The lack of efficacy is indicated by the fact that, on average, only 30% of the patients achieve an ACR50 score after 24 months treatment with methotrexate. This means that, according to the American College of Rheumatology, only 30% of the patients do achieve a 50% improvement of their symptoms (O'Dell et al., 1996). In addition, the precise mechanism of action of DMARDs is often unclear.

Biological DMARDs (Infliximab, Etanercept, Adalimumab, Rituximab, CTLA4-Ig) are therapeutic proteins that inactivate cytokines (for example, TNF-α) or cells (for example, T-cells or B-cells) that have an important role in the RA pathophysiology (Kremer et al., 2003; Edwards et al., 2004). Although the TNF-α-blockers (Infliximab, Etanercept, Adalimumab) and methotrexate combination therapy is the most effective RA treatment currently available, it is striking that even this therapy only achieves a 50% improvement (ACR50) in disease symptoms in 50-60% of patients after 12 months therapy (St Clair et al., 2004). Some adverse events warnings for anti-TNF-α drugs exist, shedding a light on the side effects associated to this type of drugs. Increased risk for infections (tuberculosis) hematologic events and demyelinating disorders have been described for the TNF-α blockers. (see also Gomez-Reino et al., 2003). Besides the serious side effects, the TNF-α blockers do also share the general disadvantages of the biological class of therapeutics, which are the unpleasant way of administration (frequent injections accompanied by infusion site reactions) and the high production cost. Newer agents in late development phase target T-cell co-stimulatory molecules and B-cells. The efficacy of these agents is expected to be similar to that of the TNF-α blockers. The fact that a variety of targeted therapies have similar but limited efficacies, suggests that there is a multiplicity of pathogenic factors for RA. This is also indicative for the deficiencies in our understanding of pathogenic events relevant to RA.

The current therapies for RA are not satisfactory due to a limited efficacy (no adequate therapy exists for 30% of the patients). This calls for additional strategies to achieve remission. Remission is required since residual disease bears the risk of progressive joint damage and thus progressive disability. Inhibiting the immuno-inflammatory component of the RA disease, which represents the main target of drugs currently used for RA treatment, does not result in a blockade of joint degradation, the major hallmark of the disease.

The histological analysis of RA patient joints clearly identifies the pannus, as an aggressive, invasive tissue that represents the main culprit in joint degradation. Within the pannus, the synovial fibroblasts represent a link between the initiation of the abnormally triggered immune system that lies at the basis of RA pathogenesis, and the ultimate joint erosion. As no current RA therapy efficiently abolishes the erosive activity of the pannus in the long term, the discovery of novel drugs and/or drug targets that inhibit the generation, and/or the activity, of the pannus would represent an important milestone for the development of novel RA treatments.

The present invention is based on the discovery of that certain proteins function in the pathway that results in the expression of extra-cellular matrix (ECM) degradation proteases, such as MMP1, and that inhibitors of the activity of these proteins, are useful for the treatment of diseases involving the abnormally high expression of such proteases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for identifying compounds that inhibit extra-cellular matrix (ECM) degradation, comprising contacting a compound with a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 17-32 (hereinafter “TARGETS”) and fragments thereof, under conditions that allow said polypeptide to bind to said compound, and measuring a compound-polypeptide property related to extra-cellular matrix (ECM) degradation.

Aspects of the present method include the in vitro assay of compounds using polypeptide of a TARGET, or fragments thereof, such fragments including the amino acid sequences described by SEQ ID NO: 33-127, and cellular assays wherein TARGET inhibition is followed by observing indicators of efficacy including, for example, TARGET expression levels, TARGET enzymatic activity and/or Matrix Metallo Proteinase-1 levels.

The present invention also relates to (1) expression inhibitory agents comprising a polynucleotide selected from the group of an antisense polynucleotide, a ribozyme, and a small interfering RNA (siRNA), wherein said polynucleotide comprises a nucleic acid sequence complementary to, or engineered from, a naturally occurring polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 17-127, and (2) pharmaceutical compositions comprising said agent, useful in the treatment, or prevention, of chronic joint degenerative diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Another aspect of the invention is a method of treatment, or prevention, of a condition involving extra-cellular matrix (ECM) degradation, in a subject suffering or susceptible thereto, by administering a pharmaceutical composition comprising an effective TARGET-expression inhibiting amount of a expression-inhibitory agent or an effective TARGET activity inhibiting amount of a activity-inhibitory agent.

A further aspect of the present invention is a method for diagnosis relating to disease conditions characterized by extra-cellular matrix (ECM) degradation comprising measurement of indicators of levels of TARGET expression in a subject.

Another aspect of this invention relates to the use of the present compound in a therapeutic method, a pharmaceutical composition, and the manufacture of such composition, useful for the treatment of a disease involving inflammation, and in particular, a disease characteristic of abnormal matrix metallo protease activity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. Schematic view of a normal joint and its changes in rheumatoid arthritis (From Smolen and Steiner, 2003).

FIG. 2. Characterization of the expression of MMP1 by synovial fibroblasts. In panel A, the MMP1 mRNA levels present in the SF lysate are determined by real-time PCR. These MMP1 levels are normalized to the 18S levels that are also determined by real-time PCR for the same samples. Panel B shows the MMP1 signal detected from the supernatant that is subjected to Western blotting for detection of MMP1 protein levels using an MMP1-specific polyclonal antibody. Panel C shows the results of subjecting the supernatant to a commercially available MMP1 “activity ELISA” (Amersham Biosciences). The signal represented is proportional to the MMP1 activity present in the samples tested.

FIG. 3. Increased expression of MMP1 by SFs triggered with various model adenoviruses. The SF supernatant from uninfected SFs and SFs infected with the indicated model recombinant adenoviruses is subjected to the MMP1 ELISA and the MMP1 level measured by using a luminescence generating substrate is shown.

FIG. 4. Increased expression of MMP1 by SFs triggered with various cytokines relevant in rheumatoid arthritis pathology. The SF supernatant is subjected to the MMP1 ELISA and the MMP1 level measured by using a luminescence generating substrate is shown. The white bars show the MMP1 levels of the SF supernatant from untreated SFs and SFs treated with the indicated cytokine or combination of cytokines. The grey bars show the MMP1 levels of the SF supernatant treated with the supernatant of THP1 cells that were either untreated or treated with the indicated cytokine or combination of cytokines.

FIG. 5. Dose-dependent inhibition of the “TNFα-based trigger”-induced expression of MMP1 by SFs by a known anti-inflammatory compound. The SF supernatant from SFs treated with the “TNFα-based trigger” and the anti-inflammatory compound at various concentrations is subjected to the MMP1 ELISA and the percent inhibition of MMP1 expression versus the log concentration of the anti-inflammatory compound is shown.

FIG. 6. Schematic representation of the screening of the SilenceSelect collection using the “reverse MMP1 assay.”

FIG. 7. Layout and performance of the control plate produced for the reverse MMP1 ELISA assay.

FIG. 8. Representative example of the performance of the reverse MMP1 ELISA assay run on a subset of 384 Ad-siRNAs of the SilenceSelect collection that are tested in duplicate in a primary screen (A) and a repeat screen (B).

FIG. 9. All data points obtained in the screening of the SilenceSelect collection against the reverse MMP1 assay are shown. The averaged relative luminescence data obtained from the duplicate samples in the primary screen (Y-axis) is plotted against the averaged relative luminescence data for the corresponding Ad-siRNA obtained in the repeat screen (X-axis).

FIG. 10. Layout of the plates produced for the 3 MOI repeat screen of the reverse MMP1 assay (10A) and the cytotoxicity and secretion repeat screen of the reverse MMP1 assay (10B).

FIG. 11. Reduction of the expression of the TARGETS in primary SFs by Ad-siRNAs inhibits cytokine-induced MMP1 expression in a dose dependent manner. The supernatant from SFs infected with various doses of Ad-siRNAs targeting the expression of control genes (11A) and the genes listed in Table 1 (11B) is subjected to the MMP1 ELISA and the MMP1 level (11A) or MMP1 level relevant to the negative control (11B) is shown.

FIG. 12. Reduction of the expression of the TARGETS in primary SFs by Ad-siRNAs inhibits cytokine-induced native collagen degradation. The SF supernatant from “TNFα-based trigger”-treated SFs infected with the indicated Ad-siRNAs is subjected to the collagen degradation assay. FIG. 12A shows the percent collagen degraded as compared to the control.

FIG. 12B shows the raw fluorescence signal.

FIG. 13. Reduction of the expression of the TARGETS in primary SFs by Ad-siRNAs modulates TNFα-induced IL-8 expression. The supernatant from SFs infected with the indicated Ad-siRNAs is subjected to the IL-8 ELISA assay and the percent inhibition of IL-8 expression relative to negative controls is shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following terms are intended to have the meanings presented therewith below and are useful in understanding the description and intended scope of the present invention.

The term “agent” means any molecule, including polypeptides, polynucleotides and small molecules.

The term “agonist” refers to a ligand that stimulates the receptor the ligand binds to in the broadest sense.

The term “assay” means any process used to measure a specific property of a compound. A “screening assay” means a process used to characterize or select compounds based upon their activity from a collection of compounds.

The term “binding affinity” is a property that describes how strongly two or more compounds associate with each other in a non-covalent relationship. Binding affinities can be characterized qualitatively, (such as “strong”, “weak”, “high”, or “low”) or quantitatively (such as measuring the K_(D)).

The term “carrier” means a non-toxic material used in the formulation of pharmaceutical compositions to provide a medium, bulk and/or useable form to a pharmaceutical composition. A carrier may comprise one or more of such materials such as an excipient, stabilizer, or an aqueous pH buffered solution. Examples of physiologically acceptable carriers include aqueous or solid buffer ingredients including phosphate, citrate, and other organic acids; antioxidants including ascorbic acid; low molecular weight (less than about 10 residues) polypeptide; proteins, such as serum albumin, gelatin, or immunoglobulins; hydrophilic polymers such as polyvinylpyrrolidone; amino acids such as glycine, glutamine, asparagine, arginine or lysine; monosaccharides, disaccharides, and other carbohydrates including glucose, mannose, or dextrins; chelating agents such as EDTA; sugar alcohols such as mannitol or sorbitol; salt-forming counterions such as sodium; and/or nonionic surfactants such as TWEEN™, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and PLURONICS™.

The term “complex” means the entity created when two or more compounds bind to each other.

The term “compound” is used herein in the context of a “test compound” or a “drug candidate compound” described in connection with the assays of the present invention. As such, these compounds comprise organic or inorganic compounds, derived synthetically or from natural sources. The compounds include inorganic or organic compounds such as polynucleotides, lipids or hormone analogs that are characterized by relatively low molecular weights. Other biopolymeric organic test compounds include peptides comprising from about 2 to about 40 amino acids and larger polypeptides comprising from about 40 to about 500 amino acids, such as antibodies or antibody conjugates.

The term “condition” or “disease” means the overt presentation of symptoms (i.e., illness) or the manifestation of abnormal clinical indicators (for example, biochemical indicators). Alternatively, the term “disease” refers to a genetic or environmental risk of or propensity for developing such symptoms or abnormal clinical indicators.

The term “contact” or “contacting” means bringing at least two moieties together, whether in an in vitro system or an in vivo system.

The term “derivatives of a polypeptide” relates to those peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides, proteins and enzymes that comprise a stretch of contiguous amino acid residues of the polypeptide and that retain the biological activity of the protein, for example, polypeptides that have amino acid mutations compared to the amino acid sequence of a naturally-occurring form of the polypeptide. A derivative may further comprise additional naturally occurring, altered, glycosylated, acylated or non-naturally occurring amino acid residues compared to the amino acid sequence of a naturally occurring form of the polypeptide. It may also contain one or more non-amino acid substituents compared to the amino acid sequence of a naturally occurring form of the polypeptide, for example a reporter molecule or other ligand, covalently or non-covalently bound to the amino acid sequence.

The term “derivatives of a polynucleotide” relates to DNA-molecules, RNA-molecules, and oligonucleotides that comprise a stretch or nucleic acid residues of the polynucleotide, for example, polynucleotides that may have nucleic acid mutations as compared to the nucleic acid sequence of a naturally occurring form of the polynucleotide. A derivative may further comprise nucleic acids with modified backbones such as PNA, polysiloxane, and 2′-O-(2-methoxy) ethyl-phosphorothioate, non-naturally occurring nucleic acid residues, or one or more nuclei acid substituents, such as methyl-, thio-, sulphate, benzoyl-, phenyl-, amino-, propyl-, chloro-, and methanocarbanucleosides, or a reporter molecule to facilitate its detection.

The terms “ECM-degrading protein” and “ECM-degrading activity” refer to a protein and activity, respectively, which are capable of degrading extra-cellular matrixes found in bone and cartilage.

The term “effective amount” or “therapeutically effective amount” means that amount of a compound or agent that will elicit the biological or medical response of a subject that is being sought by a medical doctor or other clinician.

The term “endogenous” shall mean a material that a mammal naturally produces. Endogenous in reference to the term “protease”, “kinase”, or G-Protein Coupled Receptor (“GPCR”) shall mean that which is naturally produced by a mammal (for example, and not limitation, a human). In contrast, the term non-endogenous in this context shall mean that which is not naturally produced by a mammal (for example, and not limitation, a human). Both terms can be utilized to describe both “in vivo” and “in vitro” systems. For example, and not a limitation, in a screening approach, the endogenous or non-endogenous TARGET may be in reference to an in vitro screening system. As a further example and not limitation, where the genome of a mammal has been manipulated to include a non-endogenous TARGET, screening of a candidate compound by means of an in vivo system is viable.

The term “expressible nucleic acid” means a nucleic acid coding for a proteinaceous molecule, an RNA molecule, or a DNA molecule.

The term “expression” comprises both endogenous expression and overexpression by transduction.

The term “expression inhibitory agent” means a polynucleotide designed to interfere selectively with the transcription, translation and/or expression of a specific polypeptide or protein normally expressed within a cell. More particularly, “expression inhibitory agent” comprises a DNA or RNA molecule that contains a nucleotide sequence identical to or complementary to at least about 17 sequential nucleotides within the polyribonucleotide sequence coding for a specific polypeptide or protein. Exemplary expression inhibitory molecules include ribozymes, double stranded siRNA molecules, self-complementary single-stranded siRNA molecules, genetic antisense constructs, and synthetic RNA antisense molecules with modified stabilized backbones.

The term “expressible nucleic acid” means a nucleic acid coding for a proteinaceous molecule, an RNA molecule, or a DNA molecule.

The term “fragment of a polynucleotide” relates to oligonucleotides that comprise a stretch of contiguous nucleic acid residues that exhibit substantially a similar, but not necessarily identical, activity as the complete sequence.

The term “fragment of a polypeptide” relates to peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides, proteins and enzymes that comprise a stretch of contiguous amino acid residues, and exhibit substantially a similar, but not necessarily identical, functional activity as the complete sequence.

The term “hybridization” means any process by which a strand of nucleic acid binds with a complementary strand through base pairing. The term “hybridization complex” refers to a complex formed between two nucleic acid sequences by virtue of the formation of hydrogen bonds between complementary bases. A hybridization complex may be formed in solution (for example, C_(0t) or R_(0t) analysis) or formed between one nucleic acid sequence present in solution and another nucleic acid sequence immobilized on a solid support (for example, paper, membranes, filters, chips, pins or glass slides, or any other appropriate substrate to which cells or their nucleic acids have been fixed). The term “stringent conditions” refers to conditions that permit hybridization between polynucleotides and the claimed polynucleotides. Stringent conditions can be defined by salt concentration, the concentration of organic solvent, for example, formamide, temperature, and other conditions well known in the art. In particular, reducing the concentration of salt, increasing the concentration of formamide, or raising the hybridization temperature can increase stringency.

The term “inhibit” or “inhibiting”, in relationship to the term “response” means that a response is decreased or prevented in the presence of a compound as opposed to in the absence of the compound.

The term “inhibition” refers to the reduction, down regulation of a process or the elimination of a stimulus for a process that results in the absence or minimization of the expression of a protein or polypeptide.

The term “induction” refers to the inducing, up-regulation, or stimulation of a process that results in the expression of a protein or polypeptide.

The term “ligand” means an endogenous, naturally occurring molecule specific for an endogenous, naturally occurring receptor.

The term “pharmaceutically acceptable salts” refers to the non-toxic, inorganic and organic acid addition salts, and base addition salts, of compounds of the present invention. These salts can be prepared in situ during the final isolation and purification of compounds useful in the present invention.

The term “polypeptide” relates to proteins, proteinaceous molecules, fractions of proteins, peptides, oligopeptides, enzymes (such as kinases, proteases, GCPR's etc.).

The term “polynucleotide” means a polynucleic acid, in single or double stranded form, and in the sense or antisense orientation, complementary polynucleic acids that hybridize to a particular polynucleic acid under stringent conditions, and polynucleotides that are homologous in at least about 60 percent of its base pairs, and more preferably 70 percent of its base pairs are in common, most preferably 90 percent, and in a special embodiment 100 percent of its base pairs. The polynucleotides include polyribonucleic acids, polydeoxyribonucleic acids, and synthetic analogues thereof. It also includes nucleic acids with modified backbones such as peptide nucleic acid (PNA), polysiloxane, and 2′-O-(2-methoxy)ethylphosphorothioate. The polynucleotides are described by sequences that vary in length, that range from about 10 to about 5000 bases, preferably about 100 to about 4000 bases, more preferably about 250 to about 2500 bases. One polynucleotide embodiment comprises from about 10 to about 30 bases in length. A special embodiment of polynucleotide is the polyribonucleotide of from about 17 to about 22 nucleotides, more commonly described as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Another special embodiment are nucleic acids with modified backbones such as peptide nucleic acid (PNA), polysiloxane, and 2′-O-(2-methoxy)ethylphosphorothioate, or including non-naturally occurring nucleic acid residues, or one or more nucleic acid substituents, such as methyl-, thio-, sulphate, benzoyl-, phenyl-, amino-, propyl-, chloro-, and methanocarbanucleosides, or a reporter molecule to facilitate its detection.

The term “polypeptide” relates to proteins (such as TARGETS), proteinaceous molecules, fractions of proteins peptides and oligopeptides.

The term “solvate” means a physical association of a compound useful in this invention with one or more solvent molecules. This physical association includes hydrogen bonding. In certain instances the solvate will be capable of isolation, for example when one or more solvent molecules are incorporated in the crystal lattice of the crystalline solid. “Solvate” encompasses both solution-phase and isolable solvates. Representative solvates include hydrates, ethanolates and methanolates.

The term “subject” includes humans and other mammals.

The term “TARGET” or “TARGETS” means the protein(s) identified in accordance with the assays described herein and determined to be involved in the modulation of MMP1 expression levels.

“Therapeutically effective amount” means that amount of a drug or pharmaceutical agent that will elicit the biological or medical response of a subject that is being sought by a medical doctor or other clinician. In particular, with regard to treating an disease condition characterized by the degradation of extracellular matrix, the term “effective matrix metallo-protease inhibiting amount” is intended to mean that effective amount of an compound of the present invention that will bring about a biologically meaningful decrease in the production of MMP-1 in the subject's disease affected tissues such that extracellular matrix degradation is meaningfully reduced. A compound having matrix metallo-protease inhibiting properties or a “matrix metallo-protease inhibiting compound” means a compound that provided to a cell in effective amounts is able to cause a biologically meaningful decrease in the production of MMP-1 in such cells.

The term “treating” means an intervention performed with the intention of preventing the development or altering the pathology of, and thereby alleviating a disorder, disease or condition, including one or more symptoms of such disorder or condition. Accordingly, “treating” refers to both therapeutic treatment and prophylactic or preventative measures. Those in need of treating include those already with the disorder as well as those in which the disorder is to be prevented. The related term “treatment,” as used herein, refers to the act of treating a disorder, symptom, disease or condition, as the term “treating” is defined above.

Applicants' Invention Based on TARGET Relationship to Extra-cellular Matrix Degradation

MMP1 expression by SFs is relevant to ECM degradation as it correlates to the activation of SFs towards an erosive phenotype that, in vivo, is responsible for cartilage degradation. This has been demonstrated by the administration to TNFα transgenic mice, which spontaneously develop an arthritic phenotype, of adenovirus that overexpress TIMP1, an inhibitor of MMPs,, which administration results in the reduction of joint degradation (Shett et al., Arthritis Rheum. (2001) 44:2888-98). Therefore, inhibition of the MMP1 expression by SFs represents a valuable therapeutic approach towards the treatment of RA. Accordingly, if the reduction in expression of a candidate protein in activated SFs leads to a corresponding reduction of MMP1 expression, then such protein is involved in the regulation of MMP1 expression and is a relevant target for the development of therapeutic strategies for the treatment of RA. The present inventors have identified such target proteins by screening recombinant adenoviruses mediating the expression of a library of shRNAs, referred to herein as “Ad-siRNAs.” The collection used herein is further referred to as “adenoviral siRNA library” or “SilenceSelect” collection. These libraries contain recombinant adenoviruses, further referred to as knock-down (KD) viruses or Ad-siRNAs, that mediate the expression in cells of shRNAs which reduce the expression levels of targeted genes by a RNA interference (RNAi)-based mechanism (WO03/020931). The screening work is described below in Example 1.

As noted above, the present invention is based on the present inventors' discovery that the TARGET polypeptides, identified as a result of a variety of screens described below in the Examples, are factors not only in the up-regulation and/or induction of MMP1, but even in the up-regulation and/or induction of extra-cellular matrix degradation. The activity of the ECM-degrading proteins is believed to be causative and to correlate with the progression of various diseases associated with an increased degradation of the extra-cellular matrix, including diseases that involve the degradation of the joint.

In one aspect, the present invention relates to a method for assaying for drug candidate compounds that inhibit extra-cellular matrix degradation, comprising contacting the compound with a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 17-127, or fragment thereof, under conditions that allow said polypeptide to bind to the compound, and detecting the formation of a complex between the polypeptide and the compound. One preferred means of measuring the complex formation is to determine the binding affinity of said compound to said polypeptide.

More particularly, the invention relates to a method for identifying an agent that inhibits extra-cellular matrix degradation, the method comprising further:

-   -   (a) contacting a population of mammalian cells with one or more         compound that exhibits binding affinity for a TARGET         polypeptide, or fragment thereof, and     -   (b) measuring a compound-polypeptide property related to         extra-cellular matrix degradation.

The compound-polypeptide property referred to above is related to the expression and/or activity of the TARGET, and is a measurable phenomenon chosen by the person of ordinary skill in the art. The measurable property may be, for example, the binding affinity for a peptide domain of the polypeptide TARGET such as for SEQ ID NO: 33-127, or the level of any one of a number of biochemical marker levels of extra-cellular matrix degradation. Extra-cellular matrix degradation can be measured, for example, by measuring the level of enzymes that are induced during the process, such as expression of a MMP and/or a Cathepsin polypeptide.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the TARGET polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID No: 17-32 as listed in Table 1.

TABLE 1 SEQ SEQ ID SEQ ID KD Ref/SEQ ID REF/SEQ SEQ KD Target Hit Gene Accession NO Accession ID No Protein Target 21- No. Name Description (DNA) DNA (Protein) Protein Class 19-Mer Mer H46- KCNF1 Homo sapiens NM_002236 1 NP_002227 17 Ion 128 231 030 potassium voltage- Channel 176-182 gated channel, 219-220 subfamily F, member 1 H46- SLC9A8 Homo sapiens solute NM_015266 2 NP_056081 18 Ion 129 232 137 carrier family 9 Channel 183-189 (sodium/hydrogen 229-230 exchanger), isoform 8 H46- ARAF1 Homo sapiens v-raf NM_001654 3 NP_001645 19 Kinase 130 233 160 murine sarcoma 3611 156-162 viral oncogene 204 homolog H46- AXL Homo sapiens AXL NM_001699 4 NP_001690 20 Kinase 131 234 010 receptor tyrosine 142-148 kinase (AXL), 205-206 transcript variant 2 H46- AXL Homo sapiens AXL NM_021913 5 NP_068713 21 Kinase 131 234 010 receptor tyrosine 205-206 kinase (AXL), transcript variant 1 H46- FGFR3 Homo sapiens NM_000142 6 NP_000133 22 Kinase 132 235 393 fibroblast growth 190-196 factor receptor 3, 211-215 transcript variant 1 H46- NR2F6 Homo sapiens nuclear NM_005234 7 NP_005225 23 NHR 133 236 189 receptor subfamily 2, 163-168 group F, member 6 225-226 H46- SCN9A Homo sapiens sodium NM_002977 8 NP_002968 24 Ion 134 237 020 channel, voltage- Channel 169-175 gated, type IX, alpha 227-228 H46- MAPK13 Homo sapiens NM_002754 9 NP_002745 25 Kinase 135 238 359 mitogen-activated 149-155 protein kinase 13 223 H46- ILK Homo sapiens NM_004517 10 NP_004508 26 Kinase 136 239 343 integrin-linked kinase 216-218 (ILK), transcript variant 1 H46- CHRNA5 Homo sapiens M83712 11 AAA58357 27 Ion 137 240 226 cholinergic receptor, Channel/ 197-203 nicotinic, alpha Receptor 207-208 polypeptide 5 H46- NQO2 Homo sapiens NM_000904 12 NP_000895 28 Dehydrogenase 138-139 241-242 129 NAD(P)H 224 dehydrogenase, quinone 2 H46- DGKB Homo sapiens NM_145695 13 NP_663733 29 Kinase 140 243 021 diacylglycerol kinase, 209 beta 90 kDa (DGKB), transcript variant 2 H46- DGKB Homo sapiens NM_004080 14 NP_004071 30 Kinase 140 243 021 diacylglycerol kinase, 209-210 beta 90 kDa (DGKB), transcript variant 1 H46- INCENP Homo sapiens inner NM_020238 15 NP_064623 31 Not 140 243 021 centromere protein Classified antigens 135/155 kDa (INCENP) H46- MAPK12 Homo sapiens NM_002969 16 NP_002960 32 Kinase 141 244 265 mitogen-activated 221-222 protein kinase 12

Another special embodiment of the invention comprises the kinase TARGETS identified as SEQ ID NOS. 19-22, 25, 26, 29, 30, and 32. Another special embodiment of the invention comprises the ion channel TARGETS identified as SEQ ID NOS. 17, 18, 24, and 27. A further preferred embodiment is the Nuclear Hormone Receptors (NHRs) TARGET identified as SEQ. ID NO. 23.

Depending on the choice of the skilled artisan, the present assay method may be designed to function as a series of measurements, each of which is designed to determine whether the drug candidate compound is indeed acting on the polypeptide to thereby inhibit extra-cellular matrix degradation. For example, an assay designed to determine the binding affinity of a compound to the polypeptide, or fragment thereof, may be necessary, but not sufficient, to ascertain whether the test compound would be useful for inhibiting extra-cellular matrix degradation when administered to a subject.

Such binding information would be useful in identifying a set of test compounds for use in an assay that would measure a different property, further down the biochemical pathway, such as for example MMP-1 expression. Such second assay may be designed to confirm that the test compound, having binding affinity for the polypeptide, actually inhibits extra-cellular matrix degradation. Suitable controls should always be in place to insure against false positive readings.

The order of taking these measurements is not believed to be critical to the practice of the present invention, which may be practiced in any order. For example, one may first perform a screening assay of a set of compounds for which no information is known respecting the compounds' binding affinity for the polypeptide. Alternatively, one may screen a set of compounds identified as having binding affinity for a polypeptide domain, or a class of compounds identified as being an inhibitor of the polypeptide. However, for the present assay to be meaningful to the ultimate use of the drug candidate compounds, a measurement of extra-cellular matrix degradation activity is necessary. Validation studies including controls and measurements of binding affinity to the polypeptides of the invention are nonetheless useful in identifying a compound useful in any therapeutic or diagnostic application.

The present assay method may be practiced in vitro, using one or more of the TARGET proteins, or fragments thereof. The amino acid sequences of exemplary protein domain fragments of selected TARGETS are SEQ ID NO: 33-127, listed in Table 1A below.

TABLE 1A SEQ ID NO Accession Name Protein Segment Protein segment NM_002236 KCNF1 Intracellular domain 33 NM_002236 KCNF1 Transmembrane domain 34 NM_002236 KCNF1 Extracellular domain 35 NM_002236 KCNF1 Transmembrane domain 36 NM_002236 KCNF1 Intracellular domain 37 NM_002236 KCNF1 Transmembrane domain 38 NM_002236 KCNF1 Extracellular domain 39 NM_002236 KCNF1 Transmembrane domain 40 NM_002236 KCNF1 Intracellular domain 41 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Intracellular domain 42 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 43 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Extracellular domain 44 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 45 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Intracellular domain 46 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 47 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Extracellular domain 48 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 49 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Intracellular domain 50 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 51 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Extracellular domain 52 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 53 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Intracellular domain 54 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 55 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Extracellular domain 56 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 57 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Intracellular domain 58 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 59 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Extracellular domain 60 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 61 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Intracellular domain 62 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Transmembrane domain 63 NM_015266 SLC9A8 Extracellular domain 64 NM_001699 AXL Extracellular domain 65 NM_001699 AXL Transmembrane domain 66 NM_001699 AXL Intracellular domain 67 NM_021913 AXL Extracellular domain 68 NM_021913 AXL Transmembrane domain 69 NM_021913 AXL Intracellular domain 70 NM_000142 FGFR3 Extracellular domain 71 NM_000142 FGFR3 Transmembrane domain 72 NM_000142 FGFR3 Intracellular domain 73 NM_000142 FGFR3 Transmembrane domain 74 NM_000142 FGFR3 Extracellular domain 75 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 76 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 77 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 78 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 79 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 80 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 81 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 82 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 83 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 84 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 85 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 86 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 87 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 88 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 89 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 90 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 91 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 92 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 93 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 94 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 95 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 96 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 97 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 98 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 99 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 100 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 101 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 102 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 103 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 104 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 105 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 106 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 107 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 108 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 109 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 110 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 111 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 112 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 113 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 114 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 115 NM_002977 SCN9A Intracellular domain 116 NM_002977 SCN9A Transmembrane domain 117 NM_002977 SCN9A Extracellular domain 118 M83712 CHRNA5 Extracellular domain 119 M83712 CHRNA5 Transmembrane domain 120 M83712 CHRNA5 Intracellular domain 121 M83712 CHRNA5 Transmembrane domain 122 M83712 CHRNA5 Extracellular domain 123 M83712 CHRNA5 Transmembrane domain 124 M83712 CHRNA5 Intracellular domain 125 M83712 CHRNA5 Transmembrane domain 126 M83712 CHRNA5 Extracellular domain 127

The binding affinity of a compound with the polypeptide TARGET can be measured by methods known in the art, such as using surface plasmon resonance biosensors (Biacore), by saturation binding analysis with a labeled compound (for example, Scatchard and Lindmo analysis), by differential UV spectrophotometer, fluorescence polarization assay, Fluorometric Imaging Plate Reader (FLIPR®) system, Fluorescence resonance energy transfer, and Bioluminescence resonance energy transfer. The binding affinity of compounds can also be expressed in dissociation constant (Kd) or as IC50 or EC50. The IC50 represents the concentration of a compound that is required for 50% inhibition of binding of another ligand to the polypeptide. The EC50 represents the concentration required for obtaining 50% of the maximum effect in any assay that measures TARGET function. The dissociation constant, Kd, is a measure of how well a ligand binds to the polypeptide, it is equivalent to the ligand concentration required to saturate exactly half of the binding-sites on the polypeptide. Compounds with a high affinity binding have low Kd, IC50 and EC50 values, for example, in the range of 100 nM to 1 pM; a moderate- to low-affinity binding relates to high Kd, IC50 and EC50 values, for example in the micromolar range.

The present assay method may also be practiced in a cellular assay, A host cell expressing the TARGET can be a cell with endogenous expression or a cell over-expressing the TARGET, for example, by transduction. When the endogenous expression of the polypeptide is not sufficient to determine a baseline that can easily be measured, one may use using host cells that over-express TARGET. Over-expression has the advantage that the level of the TARGET substrate end-products is higher than the activity level by endogenous expression. Accordingly, measuring such levels using presently available techniques is easier.

One embodiment of the present method for identifying a compound that decreases extra-cellular matrix (ECM) degradation comprises culturing a population of mammalian cells expressing a TARGET polypeptide, or a functional fragment or derivative thereof; determining a first level of ECM degradation in said population of cells; eventually activating the population of cells; exposing said population of cells to a compound, or a mixture of compounds; determining a second level of ECM degradation in said population of cells during or after exposure of said population of cells to said compound, or the mixture of said compounds; and identifying the compound(s) that decreases ECM degradation. As noted above, ECM degradation may be determined by measuring the expression and/or activity of the TARGET polypeptide and/or a known ECM-degrading protein. In a preferred embodiment, said ECM-degrading protein is able to degrade collagen, and more preferably, is able to degrade collagen type I and/or collagen type II. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, said ECM-degrading protein is a Matrix Metallo Proteinase (MMP), and more preferably is selected from the group consisting of MMP1, MMP2, MMP3, MMP8, MMP9, MMP13 and MMP14. In this context, the most preferred ECM-degrading protein is Matrix Metalloprotease 1 (MMP1). In yet another preferred embodiment, said ECM-degrading protein is Cathepsin K.

The expression of an ECM-degrading protein can be determined by methods known in the art such as Western blotting using specific antibodies, or an ELISA using antibodies specifically recognizing a particular ECM-degrading protein.

The activity of an ECM-degrading protein can be determined by using fluorogenic small peptide substrates. The specificity of these substrates, however, is often limited. In general, the use of these substrates is limited to the testing of purified proteases in biochemical assays, to avoid interference of other proteases.

The present inventors have developed a protocol allowing the detection, in a high throughput mode, of the activity of collagen degrading enzymes in complex media such as the supernatant of cultured cells. This protocol makes use of native collagen, being labelled with a fluorescent label, as a substrate.

The present inventors identified TARGET genes involved in ECM-degradation by using a ‘knock-down’ library. This type of library is a screen in which siRNA molecules are transduced into cells by recombinant adenoviruses, which siRNA molecules inhibit or repress the expression of a specific gene as well as expression and activity of the corresponding gene product in a cell. Each siRNA in a viral vector corresponds to a specific natural gene. By identifying a siRNA that represses ECM-degradation, a direct correlation can be drawn between the specific gene expression and ECM degradation. The TARGET genes identified using the knock-down library (the protein expression products thereof herein referred to as “TARGET” polypeptides) are then used in the present inventive method for identifying compounds that can be used to prevent ECM-degradation. Indeed, shRNA compounds comprising the sequences listed in Table 2 (SEQ ID NO: 128-141 and 231-244) inhibit the expression and/or activity of these TARGET genes and decrease the ECM-degrading activity of cells, confirming the role of the TARGETS in ECM-degradation.

TABLE 2 List of target sequences selected within the coding sequences of the genes identified as modulators of the collagenolytic activity of SFs for use in RNAi-based down-regulation of the expression of these genes. SEQ ID SEQ ID GENE NO NO NAME ACCESSION PLASMID NAME siRNA NAME 19-mer 21-mer KCNF1 NM_002236 A150100-KCNF1_v2 NM_002236_idx1263 128 231 SLC9A8 NM_015266 A150100-KIAA0939_v4 XM_030524_idx840 129 232 ARAF1 NM_001654 A150100-ARAF1_v1 NM_001654_idx372 130 233 AXL NM_001699 A150100-AXL_v1 NM_021913_idx2487 131 234 AXL NM_021913 A150100-AXL_v1 NM_021913_idx2487 131 234 FGFR3 NM_000142 A150100-FGFR3_v2 oKD173 132 235 NR2F6 NM_005234 A150100-NR2F6_v1 NM_005234_idx1269 133 236 SCN9A NM_002977 A150100-SCN9A_v1 NM_002977_idx3381 134 237 MAPK13 NM_002754 A150100-MAPK13_v6 oKD090 135 238 ILK NM_004517 A150100-ILK_v2 NM_004517_idx1243 136 239 CHRNA5 M83712 A150100-CHRNA5_v3 NM_000745_idx511 137 240 NQO2 NM_000904 A150100-NQO2_v1 NM_000904_idx598 138-139 241-242 DGKB NM_145695 A150100-DGKB_v2 NM_004080_idx1064 140 243 DGKB NM_004080 A150100-DGKB_v2 NM_004080_idx1064 140 243 INCENP NM_020238 A150100-DGKB_v2 NM_004080_idx1064 140 243 MAPK12 NM_002969 A150100-MAPK12_v6 NM_002969_idx797 141 244

Specific methods to determine the activity of a kinase by measuring the phosphorylation of a substrate by the kinase, which measurements are performed in the presence or absence of a compound, are well known in the art.

Ion channels are membrane protein complexes and their function is to facilitate the diffusion of ions across biological membranes. Membranes, or phospholipid bilayers, build a hydrophobic, low dielectric barrier to hydrophilic and charged molecules. Ion channels provide a high conducting, hydrophilic pathway across the hydrophobic interior of the membrane. The activity of an ion channel can be measured using classical patch clamping. High-throughput fluorescence-based or tracer-based assays are also widely available to measure ion channel activity. These fluorescent-based assays screen compounds on the basis of their ability to either open or close an ion channel thereby changing the concentration of specific fluorescent dyes across a membrane. In the case of the tracer-based assay, the changes in concentration of the tracer within and outside the cell are measured by radioactivity measurement or gas absorption spectrometry.

Nuclear receptor activation is believed to involve a conformational change of the receptor that is induced by ligand binding. The results of protease protection assays have confirmed that nuclear hormone agonists and antagonists cause receptor proteins to adopt different conformations (Keidel et al. Mol Cell. Biol. 14:287 (1994); Allan et al. J. Biol. Chem. 267:19513 (1992)). Accordingly, a protease protection assay can be used to measure the activity of a NHR. Recruitment of co-activators or repressors is another basis on which assays for assessment of NHR activity are developed.

Specific methods to determine the activity of a dehydrogenase by measuring the oxidation of a substrate by the dehydrogenase, which measurements are performed in the presence or absence of a compound, are well known in the art.

Specific methods to determine the inhibition by the compound by measuring the cleavage of the substrate by the polypeptide, which is a protease, are well known in the art. Classically, substrates are used in which a fluorescent group is linked to a quencher through a peptide sequence that is a substrate that can be cleaved by the target protease. Cleavage of the linker separates the fluorescent group and quencher, giving rise to an increase in fluorescence.

Table 4 lists a large number of other polypeptide types identified using applicant's knock-down library against the MMP1 assay described below. One such polypeptide class are the G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR), which are capable of activating an effector protein, resulting in changes in second messenger levels in the cell. The activity of a GPCR can be measured by measuring the activity level of such second messengers. Two important and useful second messengers in the cell are cyclic AMP (cAMP) and Ca²⁺. The activity levels can be measured by methods known to persons skilled in the art, either directly by ELISA or radioactive technologies or by using substrates that generate a fluorescent or luminescent signal when contacted with Ca²⁺ or indirectly by reporter gene analysis. The activity level of the one or more secondary messengers may typically be determined with a reporter gene controlled by a promoter, wherein the promoter is responsive to the second messenger. Promoters known and used in the art for such purposes are the cyclic-AMP responsive promoter that is responsive for the cyclic-AMP levels in the cell, and the NF-AT responsive promoter that is sensitive to cytoplasmic Ca²⁺-levels in the cell. The reporter gene typically has a gene product that is easily detectable. The reporter gene can either be stably infected or transiently transfected in the host cell. Useful reporter genes are alkaline phosphatase, enhanced green fluorescent protein, destabilized green fluorescent protein, luciferase and β-galactosidase.

It should be understood that the cells expressing the polypeptides, may be cells naturally expressing the polypeptides, or the cells may be may be transfected to express the polypeptides, as described above.

In one embodiment it is preferred that the methods of the present invention further comprise the step of contacting the population of cells with an agonist of the polypeptide. This is useful in methods wherein the expression of the polypeptide in a certain chosen population of cells is too low for a proper detection of its activity. By using an agonist the polypeptide may be triggered, enabling a proper read-out if the compound inhibits the polypeptide. Similar considerations apply to the measurement of ECM degradation. In a preferred embodiment, the cells used in the present method are mammalian synovial fibroblasts and the triggers that may be used to induce the ECM-degrading activity are cytokines relevant in the field of arthritis: for instance TNFalpha, IL1beta, IL6, OSM, IL17, IL15, IL18 and MIF1alpha. In another preferred embodiment, the trigger is a mixture of factors generated by contacting cytokine-producing cells relevant in the field of arthritis, such as monocytes, macrophages, T-cells, and B-cells. The cytokine-producing cells will respond to the contact by producing a complex and unbiased mixture of factors. If the cytokine-producing cell used is also found in the pannus, and the cytokine applied to this trigger is found in the synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis patients, the mixture of factors ultimately produced will contain factors that are present in the joints of arthritis patients.

The present invention further relates to a method for identifying a compound that inhibits extra-cellular matrix degradation, comprising:

-   -   (a) contacting a compound with a polypeptide comprising an amino         acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:         17-127;     -   (b) determining the binding affinity of the compound to the         polypeptide;     -   (c) contacting a population of mammalian cells expressing said         polypeptide with the compound that exhibits a binding affinity         of at least 10 micromolar; and     -   (d) identifying the compound that inhibits extra-cellular matrix         degradation.

The population of cells may be exposed to the compound or the mixture of compounds through different means, for instance by direct incubation in the medium, or by nucleic acid transfer into the cells. Such transfer may be achieved by a wide variety of means, for instance by direct transfection of naked isolated DNA, or RNA, or by means of delivery systems, such as recombinant vectors. Other delivery means such as liposomes, or other lipid-based vectors may also be used. Preferably, the nucleic acid compound is delivered by means of a (recombinant) vector such as a recombinant virus.

For high-throughput purposes, libraries of compounds may be used such as antibody fragment libraries, peptide phage display libraries, peptide libraries (for example, LOPAP™, Sigma Aldrich), lipid libraries (BioMol), synthetic compound libraries (for example, LOPAC™, Sigma Aldrich) or natural compound libraries (Specs, TimTec).

Preferred drug candidate compounds are low molecular weight compounds. Low molecular weight compounds, for example, with a molecular weight of 500 Dalton or less, are likely to have good absorption and permeation in biological systems and are consequently more likely to be successful drug candidates than compounds with a molecular weight above 500 Dalton (Lipinski et al. (1997)). Peptides comprise another preferred class of drug candidate compounds. Peptides may be excellent drug candidates and there are multiple examples of commercially valuable peptides such as fertility hormones and platelet aggregation inhibitors. Natural compounds are another preferred class of drug candidate compound. Such compounds are found in and extracted from natural sources, and which may thereafter be synthesized. The lipids are another preferred class of drug candidate compound.

Another preferred class of drug candidate compounds is an antibody. The present invention also provides antibodies directed against a TARGET. These antibodies may be endogenously produced to bind to the TARGET within the cell, or added to the tissue to bind to TARGET polypeptide present outside the cell. These antibodies may be monoclonal antibodies or polyclonal antibodies. The present invention includes chimeric, single chain, and humanized antibodies, as well as FAb fragments and the products of a FAb expression library, and Fv fragments and the products of an Fv expression library. In another embodiment, the compound may be a nanobody, the smallest functional fragment of naturally occurring single-domain antibodies (Cortez-Retamozo et al. 2004).

In certain embodiments, polyclonal antibodies may be used in the practice of the invention. The skilled artisan knows methods of preparing polyclonal antibodies. Polyclonal antibodies can be raised in a mammal, for example, by one or more injections of an immunizing agent and, if desired, an adjuvant. Typically, the immunizing agent and/or adjuvant will be injected in the mammal by multiple subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injections. Antibodies may also be generated against the intact TARGET protein or polypeptide, or against a fragment, derivatives including conjugates, or other epitope of the TARGET protein or polypeptide, such as the TARGET embedded in a cellular membrane, or a library of antibody variable regions, such as a phage display library.

It may be useful to conjugate the immunizing agent to a protein known to be immunogenic in the mammal being immunized. Examples of such immunogenic proteins include but are not limited to keyhole limpet hemocyanin, serum albumin, bovine thyroglobulin, and soybean trypsin inhibitor. Examples of adjuvants that may be employed include Freund's complete adjuvant and MPL-TDM adjuvant (monophosphoryl Lipid A, synthetic trehalose dicorynomycolate). One skilled in the art without undue experimentation may select the immunization protocol.

In some embodiments, the antibodies may be monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies may be prepared using methods known in the art. The monoclonal antibodies of the present invention may be “humanized” to prevent the host from mounting an immune response to the antibodies. A “humanized antibody” is one in which the complementarity determining regions (CDRS) and/or other portions of the light and/or heavy variable domain framework are derived from a non-human immunoglobulin, but the remaining portions of the molecule are derived from one or more human immunoglobulins. Humanized antibodies also include antibodies characterized by a humanized heavy chain associated with a donor or acceptor unmodified light chain or a chimeric light chain, or vice versa. The humanization of antibodies may be accomplished by methods known in the art (see, for example, Mark and Padlan, (1994) “Chapter 4. Humanization of Monoclonal Antibodies”, The Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology Vol. 113, Springer-Verlag, New York). Transgenic animals may be used to express humanized antibodies.

Human antibodies can also be produced using various techniques known in the art, including phage display libraries (Hoogenboom and Winter, (1991) J. Mol. Biol. 227:381-8; Marks et al. (1991). J. Mol. Biol. 222:581-97). The techniques of Cole, et al. and Boemer, et al. are also available for the preparation of human monoclonal antibodies (Cole, et al. (1985) Monoclonal Antibodies and Cancer Therapy, Alan R. Liss, p. 77; Boerner, et al (1991). J. Immunol., 147(1):86-95).

Techniques known in the art for the production of single chain antibodies can be adapted to produce single chain antibodies to the TARGET polypeptides and proteins of the present invention. The antibodies may be monovalent antibodies. Methods for preparing monovalent antibodies are well known in the art. For example, one method involves recombinant expression of immunoglobulin light chain and modified heavy chain. The heavy chain is truncated generally at any point in the Fc region so as to prevent heavy chain cross-linking. Alternatively, the relevant cysteine residues are substituted with another amino acid residue or are deleted so as to prevent cross-linking.

Bispecific antibodies are monoclonal, preferably human or humanized, antibodies that have binding specificities for at least two different antigens and preferably for a cell-surface protein or receptor or receptor subunit. In the present case, one of the binding specificities is for one domain of the TARGET, while the other one is for another domain of the same or different TARGET.

Methods for making bispecific antibodies are known in the art. Traditionally, the recombinant production of bispecific antibodies is based on the co-expression of two immunoglobulin heavy-chain/light-chain pairs, where the two heavy chains have different specificities (Milstein and Cuello, (1983) Nature 305:537-9). Because of the random assortment of immunoglobulin heavy and light chains, these hybridomas (quadromas) produce a potential mixture of ten different antibody molecules, of which only one has the correct bispecific structure. Affinity chromatography steps usually accomplish the purification of the correct molecule. Similar procedures are disclosed in Trauneeker, et al. (1991) EMBO J. 10:3655-9.

According to another preferred embodiment, the assay method uses a drug candidate compound identified as having a binding affinity for a TARGET, and/or has already been identified as having down-regulating activity such as antagonist activity vis-à-vis one or more TARGET.

The present invention further relates to a method for inhibiting extra-cellular matrix degradation comprising contacting mammalian cells with an expression inhibitory agent comprising a polyribonucleotide sequence that complements at least about 17 to about 30 contiguous nucleotides of the nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1-16.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method for inhibiting extra-cellular matrix degradation, comprising by contacting mammalian cells with an expression-inhibiting agent that inhibits the translation in the cell of a polyribonucleotide encoding a TARGET polypeptide. A particular embodiment relates to a composition comprising a polynucleotide including at least one antisense strand that functions to pair the agent with the TARGET mRNA, and thereby down-regulate or block the expression of TARGET polypeptide. The inhibitory agent preferably comprises antisense polynucleotide, a ribozyme, and a small interfering RNA (siRNA), wherein said agent comprises a nucleic acid sequence complementary to, or engineered from, a naturally-occurring polynucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1-16.

A special embodiment of the present invention relates to a method wherein the expression-inhibiting agent is selected from the group consisting of antisense RNA, antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN), a ribozyme that cleaves the polyribonucleotide coding for SEQ ID NO: 1-16, a small interfering RNA (siRNA, preferably shRNA,) that is sufficiently homologous to a portion of the polyribonucleotide corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 1-16, such that the siRNA, preferably shRNA, interferes with the translation of the TARGET polyribonucleotide to the TARGET polypeptide.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a method wherein the expression-inhibiting agent is a nucleic acid expressing the antisense RNA, antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN), a ribozyme that cleaves the polyribonucleotide encoded by SEQ ID NO: 1-16, a small interfering RNA (siRNA, preferably shRNA,) that is sufficiently complementary to a portion of the polyribonucleotide corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 1-16, such that the siRNA, preferably shRNA, interferes with the translation of the TARGET polyribonucleotide to the TARGET polypeptide. Preferably the expression-inhibiting agent is an antisense RNA, ribozyme, antisense oligodeoxynucleotide, or siRNA, preferably shRNA, comprising a polyribonucleotide sequence that complements at least about 17 to about 30 contiguous nucleotides of a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1-16. More preferably, the expression-inhibiting agent is an antisense RNA, ribozyme, antisense oligodeoxynucleotide, or siRNA, preferably shRNA, comprising a polyribonucleotide sequence that complements at least about 17 to about 25 contiguous nucleotides of a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1-16. A special embodiment comprises a polyribonucleotide sequence that complements a polynucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 128-141 and 231-244.

The down regulation of gene expression using antisense nucleic acids can be achieved at the translational or transcriptional level. Antisense nucleic acids of the invention are preferably nucleic acid fragments capable of specifically hybridizing with all or part of a nucleic acid encoding a TARGET polypeptide or the corresponding messenger RNA. In addition, antisense nucleic acids may be designed which decrease expression of the nucleic acid sequence capable of encoding a TARGET polypeptide by inhibiting splicing of its primary transcript. Any length of antisense sequence is suitable for practice of the invention so long as it is capable of down-regulating or blocking expression of a nucleic acid coding for a TARGET. Preferably, the antisense sequence is at least about 17 nucleotides in length. The preparation and use of antisense nucleic acids, DNA encoding antisense RNAs and the use of oligo and genetic antisense is known in the art.

One embodiment of expression-inhibitory agent is a nucleic acid that is antisense to a nucleic acid comprising SEQ ID NO: 1-16, for example, an antisense nucleic acid (for example, DNA) may be introduced into cells in vitro, or administered to a subject in vivo, as gene therapy to inhibit cellular expression of nucleic acids comprising SEQ ID NO: 1-16. Antisense oligonucleotides comprise preferably a sequence containing from about 17 to about 100 nucleotides and more preferably the antisense oligonucleotides comprise from about 18 to about 30 nucleotides. Antisense nucleic acids may be prepared from about 17 to about 30 contiguous nucleotides selected from the sequences of SEQ ID NO: 1-16, expressed in the opposite orientation.

The antisense nucleic acids are preferably oligonucleotides and may consist entirely of deoxyribo-nucleotides, modified deoxyribonucleotides, or some combination of both. The antisense nucleic acids can be synthetic oligonucleotides. The oligonucleotides may be chemically modified, if desired, to improve stability and/or selectivity. Since oligonucleotides are susceptible to degradation by intracellular nucleases, the modifications can include, for example, the use of a sulfur group to replace the free oxygen of the phosphodiester bond. This modification is called a phosphorothioate linkage. Phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotides are water soluble, polyanionic, and resistant to endogenous nucleases. In addition, when a phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotide hybridizes to its TARGET site, the RNA-DNA duplex activates the endogenous enzyme ribonuclease (RNase) H, which cleaves the mRNA component of the hybrid molecule.

In addition, antisense oligonucleotides with phosphoramidite and polyamide (peptide) linkages can be synthesized. These molecules should be very resistant to nuclease degradation. Furthermore, chemical groups can be added to the 2′ carbon of the sugar moiety and the 5 carbon (C-5) of pyrimidines to enhance stability and facilitate the binding of the antisense oligonucleotide to its TARGET site. Modifications may include 2′-deoxy, O-pentoxy, O-propoxy, O-methoxy, fluoro, methoxyethoxy phosphorothioates, modified bases, as well as other modifications known to those of skill in the art.

Another type of expression-inhibitory agent that reduces the levels of TARGETS is the ribozyme. Ribozymes are catalytic RNA molecules (RNA enzymes) that have separate catalytic and substrate binding domains. The substrate binding sequence combines by nucleotide complementarity and, possibly, non-hydrogen bond interactions with its TARGET sequence. The catalytic portion cleaves the TARGET RNA at a specific site. The substrate domain of a ribozyme can be engineered to direct it to a specified mRNA sequence. The ribozyme recognizes and then binds a TARGET mRNA through complementary base pairing. Once it is bound to the correct TARGET site, the ribozyme acts enzymatically to cut the TARGET mRNA. Cleavage of the mRNA by a ribozyme destroys its ability to direct synthesis of the corresponding polypeptide. Once the ribozyme has cleaved its TARGET sequence, it is released and can repeatedly bind and cleave at other mRNAs.

Ribozyme forms include a hammerhead motif, a hairpin motif, a hepatitis delta virus, group I intron or RNaseP RNA (in association with an RNA guide sequence) motif or Neurospora VS RNA motif. Ribozymes possessing a hammerhead or hairpin structure are readily prepared since these catalytic RNA molecules can be expressed within cells from eukaryotic promoters (Chen, et al. (1992) Nucleic Acids Res. 20:4581-9). A ribozyme of the present invention can be expressed in eukaryotic cells from the appropriate DNA vector. If desired, the activity of the ribozyme may be augmented by its release from the primary transcript by a second ribozyme (Ventura, et al. (1993) Nucleic Acids Res. 21:3249-55).

Ribozymes may be chemically synthesized by combining an oligodeoxyribonucleotide with a ribozyme catalytic domain (20 nucleotides) flanked by sequences that hybridize to the TARGET mRNA after transcription. The oligodeoxyribonucleotide is amplified by using the substrate binding sequences as primers. The amplification product is cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector.

Ribozymes are expressed from transcription units inserted into DNA, RNA, or viral vectors. Transcription of the ribozyme sequences are driven from a promoter for eukaryotic RNA polymerase I (pol (I), RNA polymerase II (pol II), or RNA polymerase III (pol III). Transcripts from pol II or pol III promoters will be expressed at high levels in all cells; the levels of a given pol II promoter in a given cell type will depend on nearby gene regulatory sequences. Prokaryotic RNA polymerase promoters are also used, providing that the prokaryotic RNA polymerase enzyme is expressed in the appropriate cells (Gao and Huang, (1993) Nucleic Acids Res. 21:2867-72). It has been demonstrated that ribozymes expressed from these promoters can function in mammalian cells (Kashani-Sabet, et al. (1992) Antisense Res. Dev. 2:3-15).

A particularly preferred inhibitory agent is a small interfering RNA (siRNA, preferably small hairpin RNA, “shRNA”). siRNA, preferably shRNA, mediate the post-transcriptional process of gene silencing by double stranded RNA (dsRNA) that is homologous in sequence to the silenced RNA. siRNA according to the present invention comprises a sense strand of 17-25 nucleotides complementary or homologous to a contiguous 17-25 nucleotide sequence selected from the group of sequences described in SEQ ID NO: 1-16, preferably from the group of sequences described in SEQ ID No: 128-141 and 231-244, and an antisense strand of 17-25 nucleotides complementary to the sense strand. The most preferred siRNA comprises sense and anti-sense strands that are 100 percent complementary to each other and the TARGET polynucleotide sequence. Preferably the siRNA further comprises a loop region linking the sense and the antisense strand.

A self-complementing single stranded shRNA molecule polynucleotide according to the present invention comprises a sense portion and an antisense portion connected by a loop region linker. Preferably, the loop region sequence is 4-30 nucleotides long, more preferably 5-15 nucleotides long and most preferably 8 nucleotides long. In a most preferred embodiment the linker sequence is UUGCUAUA (SEQ ID NO: 871) or GUUUGCUAUAAC (SEQ ID NO: 872). Self-complementary single stranded siRNAs form hairpin loops and are more stable than ordinary dsRNA. In addition, they are more easily produced from vectors.

Analogous to antisense RNA, the siRNA can be modified to confirm resistance to nucleolytic degradation, or to enhance activity, or to enhance cellular distribution, or to enhance cellular uptake, such modifications may consist of modified internucleoside linkages, modified nucleic acid bases, modified sugars and/or chemical linkage the siRNA to one or more moieties or conjugates. The nucleotide sequences are selected according to siRNA designing rules that give an improved reduction of the TARGET sequences compared to nucleotide sequences that do not comply with these siRNA designing rules (For a discussion of these rules and examples of the preparation of siRNA, WO2004094636, published Nov. 4, 2004, and UA20030198627, are hereby incorporated by reference).

The present invention also relates to compositions, and methods using said compositions, comprising a DNA expression vector capable of expressing a polynucleotide capable of inhibiting extra-cellular matrix degradation and described hereinabove as an expression inhibition agent.

A special aspect of these compositions and methods relates to the down-regulation or blocking of the expression of a TARGET polypeptide by the induced expression of a polynucleotide encoding an intracellular binding protein that is capable of selectively interacting with the TARGET polypeptide. An intracellular binding protein includes any protein capable of selectively interacting, or binding, with the polypeptide in the cell in which it is expressed and neutralizing the function of the polypeptide. Preferably, the intracellular binding protein is a neutralizing antibody or a fragment of a neutralizing antibody having binding affinity to an epitope of the TARGET polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 17-32, preferably to a domain of SEQ ID NO: 33-127. More preferably, the intracellular binding protein is a single chain antibody.

A special embodiment of this composition comprises the expression-inhibiting agent selected from the group consisting of antisense RNA, antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN), a ribozyme that cleaves the polyribonucleotide coding for SEQ ID NO: 17-32, and a small interfering RNA (siRNA) that is sufficiently homologous to a portion of the polyribonucleotide corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 1-16, such that the siRNA interferes with the translation of the TARGET polyribonucleotide to the TARGET polypeptide.

The polynucleotide expressing the expression-inhibiting agent is preferably included within a vector. The polynucleic acid is operably linked to signals enabling expression of the nucleic acid sequence and is introduced into a cell utilizing, preferably, recombinant vector constructs, which will express the antisense nucleic acid once the vector is introduced into the cell. A variety of viral-based systems are available, including adenoviral, retroviral, adeno-associated viral, lentiviral, herpes simplex viral or a sendaviral vector systems, and all may be used to introduce and express polynucleotide sequence for the expression-inhibiting agents in TARGET cells.

Preferably, the viral vectors used in the methods of the present invention are replication defective. Such replication defective vectors will usually pack at least one region that is necessary for the replication of the virus in the infected cell. These regions can either be eliminated (in whole or in part), or be rendered non-functional by any technique known to a person skilled in the art. These techniques include the total removal, substitution, partial deletion or addition of one or more bases to an essential (for replication) region. Such techniques may be performed in vitro (on the isolated DNA) or in situ, using the techniques of genetic manipulation or by treatment with mutagenic agents. Preferably, the replication defective virus retains the sequences of its genome, which are necessary for encapsidating, the viral particles.

In a preferred embodiment, the viral element is derived from an adenovirus. Preferably, the vehicle includes an adenoviral vector packaged into an adenoviral capsid, or a functional part, derivative, and/or analogue thereof. Adenovirus biology is also comparatively well known on the molecular level. Many tools for adenoviral vectors have been and continue to be developed, thus making an adenoviral capsid a preferred vehicle for incorporating in a library of the invention. An adenovirus is capable of infecting a wide variety of cells. However, different adenoviral serotypes have different preferences for cells. To combine and widen the TARGET cell population that an adenoviral capsid of the invention can enter in a preferred embodiment, the vehicle includes adenoviral fiber proteins from at least two adenoviruses. Preferred adenoviral fiber protein sequences are serotype 17, 45 and 51. Techniques or construction and expression of these chimeric vectors are disclosed in US Published Patent Applications 20030180258 and 20040071660, hereby incorporated by reference.

In a preferred embodiment, the nucleic acid derived from an adenovirus includes the nucleic acid encoding an adenoviral late protein or a functional part, derivative, and/or analogue thereof. An adenoviral late protein, for instance an adenoviral fiber protein, may be favorably used to TARGET the vehicle to a certain cell or to induce enhanced delivery of the vehicle to the cell. Preferably, the nucleic acid derived from an adenovirus encodes for essentially all adenoviral late proteins, enabling the formation of entire adenoviral capsids or functional parts, analogues, and/or derivatives thereof. Preferably, the nucleic acid derived from an adenovirus includes the nucleic acid encoding adenovirus E2A or a functional part, derivative, and/or analogue thereof. Preferably, the nucleic acid derived from an adenovirus includes the nucleic acid encoding at least one E4-region protein or a functional part, derivative, and/or analogue thereof, which facilitates, at least in part, replication of an adenoviral derived nucleic acid in a cell. The adenoviral vectors used in the examples of this application are exemplary of the vectors useful in the present method of treatment invention.

Certain embodiments of the present invention use retroviral vector systems. Retroviruses are integrating viruses that infect dividing cells, and their construction is known in the art. Retroviral vectors can be constructed from different types of retrovirus, such as, MoMuLV (“murine Moloney leukemia virus” MSV (“murine Moloney sarcoma virus”), HaSV (“Harvey sarcoma virus”); SNV (“spleen necrosis virus”); RSV (“Rous sarcoma virus”) and Friend virus. Lentiviral vector systems may also be used in the practice of the present invention. Retroviral systems and herpes virus system may be preferred vehicles for transfection of neuronal cells.

In other embodiments of the present invention, adeno-associated viruses (“AAV”) are utilized. The AAV viruses are DNA viruses of relatively small size that integrate, in a stable and site-specific manner, into the genome of the infected cells. They are able to infect a wide spectrum of cells without inducing any effects on cellular growth, morphology or differentiation, and they do not appear to be involved in human pathologies.

In the vector construction, the polynucleotide agents of the present invention may be linked to one or more regulatory regions. Selection of the appropriate regulatory region or regions is a routine matter, within the level of ordinary skill in the art. Regulatory regions include promoters, and may include enhancers, suppressors, etc.

Promoters that may be used in the expression vectors of the present invention include both constitutive promoters and regulated (inducible) promoters. The promoters may be prokaryotic or eukaryotic depending on the host. Among the prokaryotic (including bacteriophage) promoters useful for practice of this invention are lac, lacZ, T3, T7, lambda P.sub.r, P.sub.1, and trp promoters. Among the eukaryotic (including viral) promoters useful for practice of this invention are ubiquitous promoters (for example, HPRT, vimentin, actin, tubulin), intermediate filament promoters (for example, desmin, neurofilaments, keratin, GFAP), therapeutic gene promoters (for example, MDR type, CFTR, factor VIII), tissue-specific promoters (for example, actin promoter in smooth muscle cells, or Flt and Flk promoters active in endothelial cells), including animal transcriptional control regions, which exhibit tissue specificity and have been utilized in transgenic animals: elastase I gene control region which is active in pancreatic acinar cells (Swift, et al. (1984) Cell 38:639-46; Ornitz, et al. (1986) Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 50:399-409; MacDonald, (1987) Hepatology 7:425-515); insulin gene control region which is active in pancreatic beta cells (Hanahan, (1985) Nature 315:115-22), immunoglobulin gene control region which is active in lymphoid cells (Grosschedl, et al. (1984) Cell 38:647-58; Adames, et al. (1985) Nature 318:533-8; Alexander, et al. (1987) Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:1436-44), mouse mammary tumor virus control region which is active in testicular, breast, lymphoid and mast cells (Leder, et al. (1986) Cell 45:485-95), albumin gene control region which is active in liver (Pinkert, et al. (1987) Genes and Devel. 1:268-76), alpha-fetoprotein gene control region which is active in liver (Krumlauf, et al. (1985) Mol. Cell. Biol., 5:1639-48; Hammer, et al. (1987) Science 235:53-8), alpha 1-antitrypsin gene control region which is active in the liver (Kelsey, et al. (1987) Genes and Devel., 1: 161-71), beta-globin gene control region which is active in myeloid cells (Mogram, et al. (1985) Nature 315:338-40; Kollias, et al. (1986) Cell 46:89-94), myelin basic protein gene control region which is active in oligodendrocyte cells in the brain (Readhead, et al. (1987) Cell 48:703-12), myosin light chain-2 gene control region which is active in skeletal muscle (Sani, (1985) Nature 314.283-6), and gonadotropic releasing hormone gene control region which is active in the hypothalamus (Mason, et al. (1986) Science 234:1372-8).

Other promoters which may be used in the practice of the invention include promoters which are preferentially activated in dividing cells, promoters which respond to a stimulus (for example, steroid hormone receptor, retinoic acid receptor), tetracycline-regulated transcriptional modulators, cytomegalovirus immediate-early, retroviral LTR, metallothionein, SV-40, E1a, and MLP promoters.

Additional vector systems include the non-viral systems that facilitate introduction of polynucleotide agents into a patient, for example, a DNA vector encoding a desired sequence can be introduced in vivo by lipofection. Synthetic cationic lipids designed to limit the difficulties encountered with liposome-mediated transfection can be used to prepare liposomes for in vivo transfection of a gene encoding a marker (Feigner, et. al. (1987) Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. USA 84:7413-7); see Mackey, et al. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:8027-31; Ulmer, et al. (1993) Science 259:1745-8). The use of cationic lipids may promote encapsulation of negatively charged nucleic acids, and also promote fusion with negatively charged cell membranes (Feigner and Ringold, (1989) Nature 337:387-8). Particularly useful lipid compounds and compositions for transfer of nucleic acids are described in International Patent Publications WO 95/18863 and WO 96/17823, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,127. The use of lipofection to introduce exogenous genes into the specific organs in vivo has certain practical advantages and directing transfection to particular cell types would be particularly advantageous in a tissue with cellular heterogeneity, for example, pancreas, liver, kidney, and the brain. Lipids may be chemically coupled to other molecules for the purpose of targeting. Targeted peptides, for example, hormones or neurotransmitters, and proteins, for example, antibodies, or non-peptide molecules could be coupled to liposomes chemically. Other molecules are also useful for facilitating transfection of a nucleic acid in vivo, for example, a cationic oligopeptide (for example, International Patent Publication WO 95/21931), peptides derived from DNA binding proteins (for example, International Patent Publication WO 96/25508), or a cationic polymer (for example, International Patent Publication WO 95/21931).

It is also possible to introduce a DNA vector in vivo as a naked DNA plasmid (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,693,622; 5,589,466; and 5,580,859). Naked DNA vectors for therapeutic purposes can be introduced into the desired host cells by methods known in the art, for example, transfection, electroporation, microinjection, transduction, cell fusion, DEAE dextran, calcium phosphate precipitation, use of a gene gun, or use of a DNA vector transporter (see, for example, Wilson, et al. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267:963-7; Wu and Wu, (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263:14621-4; Hartmut, et al. Canadian Patent Application No. 2,012,311, filed Mar. 15, 1990; Williams, et al (1991). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:2726-30). Receptor-mediated DNA delivery approaches can also be used (Curiel, et al. (1992) Hum. Gene Ther. 3:147-54; Wu and Wu, (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262:4429-32).

The present invention also provides biologically compatible, extra-cellular matrix degradation inhibiting compositions comprising an effective amount of one or more compounds identified as TARGET inhibitors, and/or the expression-inhibiting agents as described hereinabove.

A biologically compatible composition is a composition, that may be solid, liquid, gel, or other form, in which the compound, polynucleotide, vector, and antibody of the invention is maintained in an active form, for example, in a form able to effect a biological activity. For example, a compound of the invention would have inverse agonist or antagonist activity on the TARGET; a nucleic acid would be able to replicate, translate a message, or hybridize to a complementary mRNA of a TARGET; a vector would be able to transfect a TARGET cell and expression the antisense, antibody, ribozyme or siRNA as described hereinabove; an antibody would bind a TARGET polypeptide domain.

A preferred biologically compatible composition is an aqueous solution that is buffered using, for example, Tris, phosphate, or HEPES buffer, containing salt ions. Usually the concentration of salt ions will be similar to physiological levels. Biologically compatible solutions may include stabilizing agents and preservatives. In a more preferred embodiment, the biocompatible composition is a pharmaceutically acceptable composition. Such compositions can be formulated for administration by topical, oral, parenteral, intranasal, subcutaneous, and intraocular, routes. Parenteral administration is meant to include intravenous injection, intramuscular injection, intraarterial injection or infusion techniques. The composition may be administered parenterally in dosage unit formulations containing standard, well-known non-toxic physiologically acceptable carriers, adjuvants and vehicles as desired.

A particularly preferred embodiment of the present composition invention is a extra-cellular matrix degradation inhibiting pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of an expression-inhibiting agent as described hereinabove, in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. Another preferred embodiment is a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment or prevention of a condition involving ECM degradation, or a susceptibility to the condition, comprising an effective extra-cellular matrix degradation inhibiting amount of a TARGET antagonist or inverse agonist, its pharmaceutically acceptable salts, hydrates, solvates, or prodrugs thereof in admixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.

Pharmaceutical compositions for oral administration can be formulated using pharmaceutically acceptable carriers well known in the art in dosages suitable for oral administration. Such carriers enable the pharmaceutical compositions to be formulated as tablets, pills, dragees, capsules, liquids, gels, syrups, slurries, suspensions, and the like, for ingestion by the patient. Pharmaceutical compositions for oral use can be prepared by combining active compounds with solid excipient, optionally grinding a resulting mixture, and processing the mixture of granules, after adding suitable auxiliaries, if desired, to obtain tablets or dragee cores. Suitable excipients are carbohydrate or protein fillers, such as sugars, including lactose, sucrose, mannitol, or sorbitol; starch from corn, wheat, rice, potato, or other plants; cellulose, such as methyl cellulose, hydroxypropylmethyl-cellulose, or sodium carboxymethyl-cellulose; gums including arabic and tragacanth; and proteins such as gelatin and collagen. If desired, disintegrating or solubilizing agents may be added, such as the cross-linked polyvinyl pyrrolidone, agar, alginic acid, or a salt thereof, such as sodium alginate. Dragee cores may be used in conjunction with suitable coatings, such as concentrated sugar solutions, which may also contain gum arabic, talc, polyvinyl-pyrrolidone, carbopol gel, polyethylene glycol, and/or titanium dioxide, lacquer solutions, and suitable organic solvents or solvent mixtures. Dyestuffs or pigments may be added to the tablets or dragee coatings for product identification or to characterize the quantity of active compound, i.e., dosage.

Pharmaceutical preparations that can be used orally include push-fit capsules made of gelatin, as well as soft, sealed capsules made of gelatin and a coating, such as glycerol or sorbitol. Push-fit capsules can contain active ingredients mixed with filler or binders, such as lactose or starches, lubricants, such as talc or magnesium stearate, and, optionally, stabilizers. In soft capsules, the active compounds may be dissolved or suspended in suitable liquids, such as fatty oils, liquid, or liquid polyethylene glycol with or without stabilizers.

Preferred sterile injectable preparations can be a solution or suspension in a non-toxic parenterally acceptable solvent or diluent. Examples of pharmaceutically acceptable carriers are saline, buffered saline, isotonic saline (for example, monosodium or disodium phosphate, sodium, potassium; calcium or magnesium chloride, or mixtures of such salts), Ringer's solution, dextrose, water, sterile water, glycerol, ethanol, and combinations thereof 1,3-butanediol and sterile fixed oils are conveniently employed as solvents or suspending media. Any bland fixed oil can be employed including synthetic mono- or di-glycerides. Fatty acids such as oleic acid also find use in the preparation of injectables.

The composition medium can also be a hydrogel, which is prepared from any biocompatible or non-cytotoxic homo- or hetero-polymer, such as a hydrophilic polyacrylic acid polymer that can act as a drug absorbing sponge. Certain of them, such as, in particular, those obtained from ethylene and/or propylene oxide are commercially available. A hydrogel can be deposited directly onto the surface of the tissue to be treated, for example during surgical intervention.

Embodiments of pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention comprise a replication defective recombinant viral vector encoding the polynucleotide inhibitory agent of the present invention and a transfection enhancer, such as poloxamer. An example of a poloxamer is Poloxamer 407, which is commercially available (BASF, Parsippany, N.J.) and is a non-toxic, biocompatible polyol. A poloxamer impregnated with recombinant viruses may be deposited directly on the surface of the tissue to be treated, for example during a surgical intervention. Poloxamer possesses essentially the same advantages as hydrogel while having a lower viscosity.

The active expression-inhibiting agents may also be entrapped in microcapsules prepared, for example, by interfacial polymerization, for example, hydroxymethylcellulose or gelatin-microcapsules and poly-(methylmethacylate) microcapsules, respectively, in colloidal drug delivery systems (for example, liposomes, albumin microspheres, microemulsions, nano-particles and nanocapsules) or in macroemulsions. Such techniques are disclosed in Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences (1980) 16th edition, Osol, A. Ed.

Sustained-release preparations may be prepared. Suitable examples of sustained-release preparations include semi-permeable matrices of solid hydrophobic polymers containing the antibody, which matrices are in the form of shaped articles, for example, films, or microcapsules. Examples of sustained-release matrices include polyesters, hydrogels (for example, poly(2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate), or poly(vinylalcohol)), polylactides (U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,919), copolymers of L-glutamic acid and gamma-ethyl-L-glutamate, non-degradable ethylene-vinyl acetate, degradable lactic acid-glycolic acid copolymers such as the LUPRON DEPOT™. (injectable microspheres composed of lactic acid-glycolic acid copolymer and leuprolide acetate), and poly-D-(—)-3-hydroxybutyric acid. While polymers such as ethylene-vinyl acetate and lactic acid-glycolic acid enable release of molecules for over 100 days, certain hydrogels release proteins for shorter time periods. When encapsulated antibodies remain in the body for a long time, they may denature or aggregate as a result of exposure to moisture at 37° C., resulting in a loss of biological activity and possible changes in immunogenicity. Rational strategies can be devised for stabilization depending on the mechanism involved. For example, if the aggregation mechanism is discovered to be intermolecular S-S bond formation through thio-disulfide interchange, stabilization may be achieved by modifying sulfhydryl residues, lyophilizing from acidic solutions, controlling moisture content, using appropriate additives, and developing specific polymer matrix compositions.

As defined above, therapeutically effective dose means that amount of protein, polynucleotide, peptide, or its antibodies, agonists or antagonists, which ameliorate the symptoms or condition. Therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of such compounds can be determined by standard pharmaceutical procedures in cell cultures or experimental animals, for example, ED50 (the dose therapeutically effective in 50% of the population) and LD50 (the dose lethal to 50% of the population). The dose ratio of toxic to therapeutic effects is the therapeutic index, and it can be expressed as the ratio, LD50/ED50. Pharmaceutical compositions that exhibit large therapeutic indices are preferred. The data obtained from cell culture assays and animal studies is used in formulating a range of dosage for human use. The dosage of such compounds lies preferably within a range of circulating concentrations that include the ED50 with little or no toxicity. The dosage varies within this range depending upon the dosage form employed, sensitivity of the patient, and the route of administration.

For any compound, the therapeutically effective dose can be estimated initially either in cell culture assays or in animal models, usually mice, rabbits, dogs, or pigs. The animal model is also used to achieve a desirable concentration range and route of administration. Such information can then be used to determine useful doses and routes for administration in humans. The exact dosage is chosen by the individual physician in view of the patient to be treated. Dosage and administration are adjusted to provide sufficient levels of the active moiety or to maintain the desired effect. Additional factors which may be taken into account include the severity of the disease state, age, weight and gender of the patient; diet, desired duration of treatment, method of administration, time and frequency of administration, drug combination(s), reaction sensitivities, and tolerance/response to therapy. Long acting pharmaceutical compositions might be administered every 3 to 4 days, every week, or once every two weeks depending on half-life and clearance rate of the particular formulation.

The pharmaceutical compositions according to this invention may be administered to a subject by a variety of methods. They may be added directly to targeted tissues, complexed with cationic lipids, packaged within liposomes, or delivered to targeted cells by other methods known in the art. Localized administration to the desired tissues may be done by direct injection, transdermal absorption, catheter, infusion pump or stent. The DNA, DNA/vehicle complexes, or the recombinant virus particles are locally administered to the site of treatment. Alternative routes of delivery include, but are not limited to, intravenous injection, intramuscular injection, subcutaneous injection, aerosol inhalation, oral (tablet or pill form), topical, systemic, ocular, intraperitoneal and/or intrathecal delivery. Examples of ribozyme delivery and administration are provided in Sullivan et al. WO 94/02595.

Antibodies according to the invention may be delivered as a bolus only, infused over time or both administered as a bolus and infused over time. Those skilled in the art may employ different formulations for polynucleotides than for proteins. Similarly, delivery of polynucleotides or polypeptides will be specific to particular cells, conditions, locations, etc.

As discussed hereinabove, recombinant viruses may be used to introduce DNA encoding polynucleotide agents useful in the present invention. Recombinant viruses according to the invention are generally formulated and administered in the form of doses of between about 10⁴ and about 10¹⁴ pfu. In the case of AAVs and adenoviruses, doses of from about 10⁶ to about 10¹¹ pfu are preferably used. The term pfu (“plaque-forming unit”) corresponds to the infective power of a suspension of virions and is determined by infecting an appropriate cell culture and measuring the number of plaques formed. The techniques for determining the pfu titre of a viral solution are well documented in the prior art.

The present invention also provides methods of inhibiting extra-cellular matrix degradation, comprising administering, to a subject suffering from a disease condition involving extra-cellular matrix degradation, an extra-cellular matrix degradation inhibiting pharmaceutical composition as described herein, preferably a therapeutically effective amount of an expression-inhibiting agent of the present invention. The diseases involving extra-cellular matrix degradation, include psoriatic arthritis, juvenile arthritis, early arthritis, reactive arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, osteoporosis, muscular skeletal diseases such as tendinitis and periodontal disease, cancer metastasis, airway diseases (COPD, asthma), renal and liver fibrosis, cardio-vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and heart failure, and neurological diseases such as neuroinflammation and multiple sclerosis. More preferred diseases for treatment in accordance with the present invention are the degenerative joint diseases such as psoriatic arthritis, juvenile arthritis, early arthritis, reactive arthritis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis. The most preferred degenerative joint disease for treatment in accordance with the present method is rheumatoid arthritis. The present invention also provides methods for treatment of inflammatory diseases.

Administering of the expression-inhibiting agent of the present invention to the subject patient includes both self-administration and administration by another person. The patient may be in need of treatment for an existing disease or medical condition, or may desire prophylactic treatment to prevent or reduce the risk for diseases and medical conditions affected by a disturbance in bone metabolism. The expression-inhibiting agent of the present invention may be delivered to the subject patient orally, transdermally, via inhalation, injection, nasally, rectally or via a sustained release formulation.

A preferred regimen of the present method comprises the administration to a subject in suffering from a disease condition characterized by inflammatory, with an effective inhibiting amount of an expression-inhibiting agent of the present invention for a period of time sufficient to reduce the abnormal levels of extracellular matrix degradation in the patient, and preferably terminate, the self-perpetuating processes responsible for said degradation. A special embodiment of the method comprises administering of an effective matrix metallo-protease inhibiting amount of a expression-inhibiting agent of the present invention to a subject patient suffering from or susceptible to the development of rheumatoid arthritis, for a period of time sufficient to reduce or prevent, respectively, collagen and bone degradation in the joints of said patient, and preferably terminate, the self-perpetuating processes responsible for said degradation.

The invention also relates to the use of an agent as described above for the preparation of a medicament for treating or preventing a disease involving extra-cellular matrix degradation. Preferably the pathological condition is arthritis. More preferably, the pathological condition is rheumatoid arthritis.

The polypeptides and polynucleotides useful in the practice of the present invention described herein may be free in solution, affixed to a solid support, borne on a cell surface, or located intracellularly. To perform the methods it is feasible to immobilize either the TARGET polypeptide or the compound to facilitate separation of complexes from uncomplexed forms of the polypeptide, as well as to accommodate automation of the assay. Interaction (for example, binding of) of the TARGET polypeptide with a compound can be accomplished in any vessel suitable for containing the reactants. Examples of such vessels include microtitre plates, test tubes, and microcentrifuge tubes. In one embodiment, a fusion protein can be provided which adds a domain that allows the polypeptide to be bound to a matrix. For example, the TARGET polypeptide can be “His” tagged, and subsequently adsorbed onto Ni-NTA microtitre plates, or ProtA fusions with the TARGET polypeptides can be adsorbed to IgG, which are then combined with the cell lysates (for example, (35)^(S)-labelled) and the candidate compound, and the mixture incubated under conditions favorable for complex formation (for example, at physiological conditions for salt and pH). Following incubation, the plates are washed to remove any unbound label, and the matrix is immobilized. The amount of radioactivity can be determined directly, or in the supernatant after dissociation of the complexes. Alternatively, the complexes can be dissociated from the matrix, separated by SDS-PAGE, and the level of the protein binding to the TARGET protein quantified from the gel using standard electrophoretic techniques.

Other techniques for immobilizing protein on matrices can also be used in the method of identifying compounds. For example, either the TARGET or the compound can be immobilized utilizing conjugation of biotin and streptavidin. Biotinylated TARGET protein molecules can be prepared from biotin-NHS(N-hydroxy-succinimide) using techniques well known in the art (for example, biotinylation kit, Pierce Chemicals, Rockford, Ill.), and immobilized in the wells of streptavidin-coated 96 well plates (Pierce Chemical). Alternatively, antibodies reactive with the TARGETS but which do not interfere with binding of the TARGET to the compound can be derivatized to the wells of the plate, and the TARGET can be trapped in the wells by antibody conjugation. As described above, preparations of a labeled candidate compound are incubated in the wells of the plate presenting the TARGETS, and the amount of complex trapped in the well can be quantitated.

The polynucleotides encoding the TARGET polypeptides are identified as SEQ ID NO: 1-16. The present inventors show herein that transfection of mammalian cells with Ad-siRNAs targeting these genes decreases the release of factors that promote extra-cellular matrix degradation.

The present invention also relates to a method for diagnosis of a pathological condition involving ECM degradation, comprising determining the nucleic acid sequence of at least one of the genes of SEQ ID NO: 1-16 within the genomic DNA of a subject; comparing the sequence with the nucleic acid sequence obtained from a database and/or a healthy subject; and identifying any difference(s) related to the onset of the pathological condition.

Still another aspect of the invention relates to a method for diagnosing a pathological condition involving extra-cellular matrix degradation or a susceptibility to the condition in a subject, comprising determining the amount of polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 17-32 in a biological sample, and comparing the amount with the amount of the polypeptide in a healthy subject, wherein an increase of the amount of polypeptide compared to the healthy subject is indicative of the presence of the pathological condition.

The invention is further illustrated in the following figures and examples.

EXAMPLES

The following assays, when used in combination with arrayed adenoviral shRNA (small hairpin RNA) expression libraries (the production and use of which are described in WO99/64582), are useful for the discovery of factors that modulate the capacity of synovial fibroblasts (SFs) to produce MMP1 and degrade collagen, an important component of cartilage. Candidate factors are filtered first through a primary followed by a secondary assay.

Example 1 describes the development and setup of the primary assay screen of an adenoviral siRNA library using an ELISA for detection of protein levels of Matrix Metalloprotease 1 (MMP1), and is referred to herein as the “reverse MMP1 assay”. Example 2 describes the screening and its results. Example 3 describes a further screen that eliminates any targets that inhibit MMP1 expression in a nonspecific way. Example 4 describes the testing of a subset of the targets for the endogenous SF expression. Example 5 describes a dose response experiment that tests a subset of the Ad-siRNAs for the inhibition of cytokine-induced MMP1 expression. Example 6 describes the secondary assay referred to herein as the “collagen degradation assay”, which is more functionally oriented, and which detects collagen degradation in the supernatant of SFs. Example 7 describes the testing of a subset of the Ad-siRNAs for the inhibition of cytokine-induced IL-8 expression.

Control Viruses Used:

The control viruses used in these studies are listed below. dE1/dE2A adenoviruses are generated by co-transfection of adapter plasmids described below with the helper plasmid pWEAd5AflII-rITR.dE2A in PER.E2A packaging cells, as described in WO99/64582.

(A) Negative Control Viruses:

-   Ad5-LacZ: Described as pIPspAdApt6-lacZ in WO02/070744. -   Ad5-ALPP: The 1.9 kb insert is isolated from pGT65-PLAP (Invitrogen)     by digestion with NsiI; blunted; followed by digestion with EcoRI     and cloned into EcoRI and HpaI-digested pIPspAdApt6. -   Ad5-eGFP: Described as pIPspAdApt6-EGFP in WO02/070744. -   Ad5-eGFP_KD: Target sequence: GCTGACCCTGAAGTTCATC (SEQ ID NO: 245).     Cloned using Sap1-sites into vector and virus generated as described     in WO03/020931. -   Ad5-Luciferase_v13_KD: Target sequence: GCTGACCCTGAAGTTCATC (SEQ ID     NO: 246). Cloned using Sap1-sites into vector and virus generated as     described in WO03/020931. -   Ad5-DCK_v1_KD: Target sequence ATGAAGAGCAAGGCATTCC (SEQ ID NO: 247).     Cloned using Sap1-sites into vector and virus generated as described     in WO03/020931. -   Ad5-PRKCL1_v1_KD: Target sequence TGCCTGGGACCAGAGCTTC (SEQ ID NO:     248). Cloned using Sap1-sites into vector and virus generated as     described in WO03/020931. -   Ad5-TNFSF15_v1_KD: Target sequence GGAAGTAATTGGATCATGC (SEQ ID NO:     249). Cloned using Sap1-sites into vector and virus generated as     described in WO03/020931. -   Ad5-M6PR_v1_KD: Target sequence: GCTGACCCTGAAGTTCATC (SEQ ID NO:     250). Cloned using Sap1-sites into vector and virus generated as     described in WO03/020931.     (B) Positive Control Viruses: -   Ad5-MMP1: The cDNA encoding MMP1, cloned into the pIPspAdapt6     plasmid, is isolated from a human placenta cDNA library (see     WO02/070744) by classical filter colony hybridization strategy. A     human placental cDNA library is transformed into bacteria and plated     out on agar plates. Thousands of individual colonies are picked     (using a Q-pix device (Genetix)) and re-arrayed on agar plates.     After growing bacteria up, these plates are overlaid on     hybridization filters. These filters are subjected to a classical     hybridization procedure with a MMP1 specific probe. This probe is     obtained by PCR on a placenta cDNA library using the following     primers:     -   upstream: GTTCTGGGGTGTGGTGTCTCACAGC (SEQ ID NO: 873); and         downstream: CAAACTGAGCCACATCAGGCACTCC (SEQ ID NO: 874).     -   A bacterial colony, at a position corresponding to that of a         positive signal spot on the filter after hybridization, is         picked and used for plasmid preparation. 5′ sequence         verification confirms that the 5′ sequence of the insert         corresponds to NM_(—)002421. -   Ad5-MMP13: The cDNA of MMP13 is isolated from a cDNA preparation     from human synovial fibroblasts by PCR. The 1498 bp PCR product is     cloned into pIPspAdapt6 using a HindIII/EcoRI cloning strategy.     Sequence verification confirms that the insert corresponds to bp 18     to 1497 of NM_(—)002427. -   Ad5-MYD88: This cDNA is isolated from a human placenta cDNA library     constructed in pIPspAdapt6. The virus mediating the expression of     MYD88 is identified as a hit in one of the genomic screen run at     Galapagos Genomics. Sequence verification of the insert confirms     that the insert corresponds to bp 40 to 930 of NM_(—)002468. -   Ad5-MMP1_v10_KD: Target sequence: GCTGACCCTGAAGTTCATC (SEQ ID NO:     251). Cloned using Sap1-sites into vector and virus generated as     described in WO03/020931. -   Ad5-PRKCE_v11_KD: Target sequence GTCATGTTGGCAGAACTC (SEQ ID NO:     252). Cloned using Sap1-sites into vector and virus generated as     described in WO03/020931.

Example 1 Development of the Reverse MMP1 Assay

The MMP1 assay is developed by first testing the capacity of synovial fibroblasts (SFs) to produce MMP1.

To evaluate the capacity of SFs to produce MMP1, these cells were infected with a recombinant adenovirus mediating the expression of the MYD88 adaptor molecule involved in the pro-inflammatory IL1 signaling pathway. This virus is expected to increase MMP1 expression in these cells (see Vincenti and Brinckerhoff, 2002).

40,000 SFs are seeded per well of a 6-well plate in DMEM+10% FBS and each well is either infected with a recombinant adenovirus mediating the expression of eGFP, MYD88 or MMP1 (with a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 7500 viral particles per cell (vp/cell)) or left uninfected (blank). The SF expression of MMP1 is first determined at the mRNA level, by means of real-time, quantitative PCR. RNA of the cells infected with the control viruses is prepared 48 hours post infection using the SV RNA isolation kit (Promega), according to the instructions of the manufacturer. cDNA is prepared from this RNA using Multiscribe reverse transcriptase (50 U/μl, Applied Biosystems) and random hexamers. cDNA synthesis is performed in 25 μl total volume consisting of 1× TaqMan buffer A (PE Applied Biosystems), 5 mM MgCl2, dNTPs (500 μM final per dNTP), 2.5 mM random hexamers, 0.4 U/μl RNase Inhibitor, and 1.25 U/μl MultiScribe Reverse Transcriptase. The mixture is incubated for 10 minutes at 25° C., 30 minutes at 48° C., and 5 minutes at 95° C. Specific DNA products are amplified from the resulting cDNA with AmpliTaq Gold DNA polymerase (Applied BioSystems) during 40 PCR cycles using suited primer pairs. Amplification of the specific DNA products is monitored on an ABI PRISM® 7000 Sequence Detection System. The subsequent real time PCR reaction contained 5 μl of the RT reaction product in a total volume of 25 μl consisting of 1× SYBR Green mix (Applied Biosystems), 300 nM forward primer, and 300 nM reverse primer. Each sample is analyzed in duplicate. The PCR reaction is performed using the following program: 10 minutes at 95° C. followed by 40 cycles of (15 sec. 95° C., 1 minutes 60° C.). After each PCR reaction the products are analyzed by measuring the dissociation curve by incubating for 15 sec. 95° C., and 15 sec. at 60° C., followed by increasing the temperature to 95° C. over a 20 minutes time period, ending with 15 sec. at 95° C. The sequences of the primer pairs used for the detection of MMP1 expression are listed in Table 3.

TABLE 3 List of primers and their sequences used herein. Primer name Primer sequence SEQ ID NO pAdapt_FW GGTGGGAGGTCTATATAAGC 875 pAdapt_REV GGACAAACCACAACTAGAATGC 876 MMP1_For CCGGTTTTTCAAAGGGAATAAGTAC 877 MMP1_Rev TTCACAGTTCTAGGGAAGCCAAAG 878

MMP1 is detected using the SYBR Green method, whereas the levels of 18S rRNA, used as internal calibrator for the PCR reaction, is measured using a commercially available set of primers and Taqman probe (TaqMan® Ribosomal RNA Control Reagents, Applied Biosystems). The amplification plot and the resulting threshold Ct value are indicators for the amount of specific mRNAs present in the samples. Delta-delta Ct values are presented, meaning the normalized (relative to the 18S calibrator) levels of MMP1 mRNA in the samples infected with the positive control viruses relative to the expression levels in a Ad5-eGFP infected control sample. Results indicate a strong up-regulation of the MMP1 mRNA levels upon expression of MYD88 in SFs as compared to the non-infected or Ad5-eGFP-infected SFs (FIG. 2, panel A).

The level of MMP1 expressed by SFs is also determined at the protein level by Western Blotting. Two days after infection, supernatant of cells, infected with various recombinant adenoviruses as indicated for the Real-time PCR experiment, is collected and concentrated 15 times by classical TCA precipitation. 15 μl of the supernatant are resolved by SDS-PAGE using a 10% polyacrylamide gel. For these experiments, the medium used is M199 medium+1% FBS. For the MMP1 control sample, non-concentrated supernatant of cells infected with Ad5-MMP1 is loaded onto the gel. The resolved proteins are transferred onto a nitrocellulose membrane. The quality of the transfer and equal loading of the samples are verified by Ponceau-S staining of the membrane. Immunodetection is performed using a goat anti-MMP1 polyclonal antibody as primary antibody (R&D Systems, 1/500 dilution) and an HRP-linked rabbit anti-goat antibody (DAKO, 1/10000 dilution) as secondary antibody and ECL plus HRP substrate (Amersham Biosciences). The Western Blotting revealed a strongly increased level of MMP1 protein in the supernatant of the SFs infected with the adenoviruses mediating expression of Ad5-MYD88 as compared to the Ad5-eGFP infected cells. A very strong signal is detected for the supernatant of cells infected with Ad5-MMP1 (FIG. 2, panel B).

The high levels of MMP1 protein present in the supernatant of the Ad5-MYD88 infected SFs are confirmed using a commercially available MMP1 activity ELISA (RPN2629, Amersham Biosciences). In this ELISA, MMP1 is captured by an antibody immobilized in a well and the amount is subsequently quantified based on the conversion of a MMP1 substrate. 50 μl of non-concentrated supernatant of SFs (prepared as indicated for the western blotting experiment) are processed in this ELISA as recommended by the manufacturer (FIG. 2, panel C).

These experiments confirm the capacity of SFs, in general, and of the cell batch used for screening and validation experiments, in particular, to produce MMP1 protein upon triggering of inflammatory pathways.

A 384-well format ELISA for measurement of MMP1 is developed. Various primary antibodies are tested, as well as various ELISA protocols. The following protocol is developed and validated to measure MMP1 levels in SF supernatant in 384 well plates: white Lumitrac 600 384 well plates (Greiner) are coated with 2 μg/ml anti-MMP1 antibody MAB1346 (Chemicon). The antibody is diluted in buffer 40 (1.21 g Tris base (Sigma), 0.58 g NaCl (Calbiochem) and 5 ml 10% NaN3 (Sigma) in 1 L milliQ water and adjusted to pH 8.5). After overnight incubation at 4° C., plates are washed with PBS (80 g NaCl, 2 g KCl (Sigma), 11.5 g Na2HPO4.7H2O and 2 g KH2PO4 in 10 L milliQ; pH 7.4) and blocked with 100 μl/well Casein buffer (2% Casein (VWR International) in PBS). Next day, casein buffer is removed from ELISA plates and replaced by 50 μl/well EC buffer (4 g casein, 2.13 g Na2HPO4 (Sigma), 2 g bovine albumin (Sigma), 0.69 g NaH2PO4.H2O (Sigma), 0.5 g CHAPS (Roche), 23.3 g NaCl, 4 ml 0.5 M EDTA pH 8 (Invitrogen), 5 ml 10% NaN3 in 1 L milliQ and adjusted to pH 7.0). 0.25 mM DTT (Sigma) are added to the thawed samples plates. After removal of the EC buffer, 20 μl of sample are transferred to the ELISA plates. After overnight incubation at 4° C., the plates are washed twice with PBS, once with PBST (PBS with 0.05% Tween-20 (Sigma)), and incubated with 35 μl/well biotinylated anti-MMP1 antibody solution (R&D). This secondary antibody is diluted in buffer C (0.82 g NaH2PO4.H2O, 4.82 g Na2HPO4, 46.6 g NaCl, 20 g bovine albumin and 4 ml 0.5M EDTA pH 8 in 2 L milliQ and adjusted to pH 7.0) at a concentration of 5 μg/ml. After 2 hours of incubation at RT, the plates are washed as described above and incubated with 50 μl/well streptavidin-HRP conjugate (Biosource). Streptavidin-HRP conjugate is diluted in buffer C at a concentration of 0.25 μg/ml. After 45 minutes, the plates are washed as described above and incubated for 5 minutes with 50 μl/well BM Chem ELISA Substrate (Roche). Readout is performed on the Luminoscan Ascent Luminometer (Labsystems) with an integration time of 200 msec or with an Envision reader (Perkin Elmer).

Typical results obtained with the MMP1 ELISA developed are shown in FIG. 3. For this experiment, 3000 SFs are seeded in a 96 well plate in DMEM+10% FBS. 24 hours later, SFs are either infected at an MOI of 10000 with adenoviruses mediating the expression of ALPP, MYD88, MMP1, or left uninfected. One day after the infection, the medium of the cells is replaced by M199 medium (Invitrogen) supplemented with 1% FBS. After an incubation time of 48 hours, the supernatant is harvested, transferred to a 384 well plate and subjected to the MMP1 ELISA procedure described above. A robust, more than 3.5-fold up-regulation of the signal is observed. This experiment demonstrated the robustness and specificity of the MMP1 ELISA.

The increase of MMP1 expression by SFs upon treatment with cytokines relevant in the field of RA (TNFα, IL1β and OSM) or a combination thereof is monitored. Results are shown in FIG. 4 as white bars. For this experiment, SFs are seeded in 96 well plates at 3000 cells/well. 24 hours later, the medium is changed to M199 medium supplemented with 1% FBS. One day after the medium change, cytokines or combinations thereof are added to the cultures, each cytokine is added to a final concentration of 25 ng/ml. 72 hours after cytokine addition, the supernatant is collected and processed in the ELISA, as described for FIG. 3. As shown by the white bars in FIG. 4, TNFα alone induces an almost 3-fold increase in MMP1 expression over the untreated cells. Triggering of SFs with a combination of TNFα and OSM and/or IL1β leads to even higher MMP1 expression levels. This experiment demonstrates that the sensitivity of the MMP1 ELISA developed is sufficient to measure increases in MMP1 expression by SFs induced by cytokines relevant in RA pathogenesis.

In parallel with the above experiment, SFs are triggered, using the same protocol, with the supernatant of THP1 cells (2-fold diluted in M199+1% FBS) that are treated with the same cytokines or combinations of cytokines for 48 hours in M199 medium+1% FBS. MMP1 levels for these samples are shown in FIG. 4 as grey bars. The supernatant of TNFα-treated THP1 cells alone induces a more than 4.5-fold increase in MMP1 expression as compared to the level for untreated supernatant of THP1 cells. The 4.5-fold increase is more than the 3-fold induction with recombinant TNFα alone, and almost equals the 5-fold induction obtained by a mixture of 3 purified cytokines (TNFα, IL1b, OSM). Thus, the supernatant of TNFα-induced THP1 cells contains, besides TNFα, additional pro-inflammatory factors that activate MMP1 expression in SFs. This TNFα-based trigger mixture (prepared by contacting THP-1 cells with TNFα) will likely contain factors present in the joints of RA patients and therefore is relevant to RA. This TNFα-based complex trigger further referred to as the “TNFα-based trigger,” will be used as a basis for the “reverse MMP1 assay”.

The activation of SFs by the “TNFα-based trigger” can be inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by treating the SFs with dexamethasone, a potent anti-inflammatory agent that also strongly reduces collagen-induced arthritis in rodents (Yang et al., 2004) (FIG. 5). SFs are seeded at a density of 3000 cells/well in 96 well plates. Twenty-four hours after seeding, dexamethasone at various concentrations is added to the cells. Following overnight incubation, the media from each cell is refreshed with the supernatant of THP-1 cells treated with TNFα (50% diluted in M199+0.5% FBS), and dexamethasone at the same concentration as previously added. Forty-eight hours after treatment, the supernatant is collected and subjected to the MMP1 ELISA described above. MMP1 expression by SFs is reduced in a dose-dependent manner by the addition of dexamethasone, which exhibits an IC50 value of about 1 nM (see FIG. 5). This data shows that MMP1 expression by activated SFs can be reduced by the addition of a physiologically relevant inhibitor and validates the principal for the “reverse MMP1 assay”.

Example 2 Screening of 11,744 “Ad-siRNAs” in a Reverse MMP1 Assay

Primary Screening

An arrayed collection of 11,744 different recombinant adenoviruses mediating the expression of shRNAs in SFs are screened using the reverse MMP1 assay. These shRNAs cause a reduction in expression levels of genes that contain homologous sequences by a mechanism known as RNA interference (RNAi). The 11,744 Ad-siRNAs contained in the arrayed collection target 5046 different transcripts. On average, every transcript is targeted by two to three independent Ad-siRNAs. A schematic representation of the screening process is illustrated in FIG. 6. As discussed in more detail below, SFs are seeded in 384 well plates and infected the day thereafter with the arrayed shRNA library, whereby each well is infected with one individual Ad-siRNA. Five days after infection, the medium is refreshed and cells are triggered with the supernatant of TNFα treated THP-1 cells. Two days after addition of the trigger, supernatant is collected and subjected to the MMP1 ELISA.

A 384 well control plate is generated to assess the quality of the assay during different screening runs. The composition of this plate is shown in FIG. 7A. Wells are filled with control viruses that are produced under the same conditions as the SilenceSelect adenoviral collection. The viruses include three sets of 48 positive control viruses (P₁(Ad5-DCK_v1_KD), P₂ (Ad5-PRKCL1_v1_KD), P₃ (Ad5-TNFSF15_v1_KD)), arranged in diagonal, interspaced with three sets of 48 negative control viruses (N₁(Ad5-eGFP_v5_KD), N₂ (Ad5-Luc_v15_KD), N₃ (Ad5-eGFP_v1_KD), Bl: blanco, uninfected). Every well of a control plate contained 50 μl of virus crude lysate. Multiple aliquots of this control plate are produced and stored at −80° C.

Optimal screening protocol: RASFs at passage 1 (Cell Applications) are cultured in DMEM medium (Invitrogen), supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (ICN), 100 units/ml penicillin (Invitrogen) and 100 μg/ml streptomycin (Invitrogen), and incubated at 37° C. and 10% CO₂. The cells are passed once a week by a ⅓ split. The maximal passage number for RASFs used in the screening is 11. For screening, the SFs are seeded in transparent 384 well plates (Greiner) coated with 0.1% gelatin (Merck) at a density of 1150 cells/well in 501 μl Synovial Cell growth medium (Cell Applications, Inc.). One day later, 2 μl Ad-siRNA virus from the SilenceSelect collection (WO 03/020931) are transferred to each individual well of the 384 well plates containing the SFs. The average titer of the adenoviral is 1×10⁹ viral particles/ml, representing a MOI of about 1700. The SilenceSelect collection is stored in 384 well plates and transferred to the SFs by using a 96/384-channel dispenser. Five days after infection, the medium is removed and the wells are rinsed once by addition and subsequent removal of 80 μl of M199 medium supplemented with 1% FBS. The wells are then filled with 60 μl of “TNFalpha based trigger” diluted 2-fold in M199 medium containing 1% FBS. Two days after addition of the “TNFalpha based trigger”, the supernatant is collected in 384 well plates (Greiner) and stored at −80° C. until further processing in the MMP1 ELISA. The infection, rinsing, and medium collection steps are performed with a TECAN Freedom pipette (Tecan Freedom 200 equipped with TeMO96, TeMO384 and RoMa, Tecan AG, Switzerland). 25 μl of the collected supernatant is subjected to the MMP1 ELISA. The ELISA step is performed as indicated in Example 1.

The “TNFalpha based trigger” is produced from THP-1 cells at passage 8 to 16 grown in suspension cultures in RPMI supplemented with 10% FBS (Invitrogen) and penicillin (100 units/ml) and Streptomycin (100 μg/ml) (Invitrogen). The cultures are diluted weekly to a cell density of 2×10⁵ cells/ml, avoiding densities exceeding 1.5×10⁶ cells/ml. The production of the “TNFalpha based trigger” is initiated by seeding the THP-1 cells in M199 medium supplemented with 1% serum at a density of 1×10⁶ cells/ml. One day after seeding, recombinant human TNFalpha (Sigma) is added to the culture flasks to a final concentration of 25 ng/ml. 48 hours after addition of the cytokine, the supernatant is collected and stored at −80° C. in aliquots until further use. Every new batch of “TNFalpha based trigger” is characterized for its efficacy at inducing MMP1 expression by SFs.

A representative example of the performance of the control plate tested with the screening protocol described above is shown in FIG. 7B. The raw luminescence signal obtained for every well is shown. The positive control samples are selected as the 3 strongest hits picked up in a limited, preliminary screening of one 384 well SilenceSelect plate.

A stringent cutoff is applied, that is, the average of all 144 negative control viruses minus 1.82 times the standard deviation. Samples scoring below this cutoff are considered positive hits. These positive hits are indicated as white numbers on a gray background. As expected, the positive control viruses score very well in the assay with 88%, 81% and 94% of the samples falling below the cutoff for the P1, P2 and P3 positive controls samples, respectively. As non-infected wells display lower signals as compared to infected wells, the blanco samples often score positive. The reason for this is not known. To rule out that a sample would be positive because of the absence of virus, the virus content of all wells is monitored by checking the cytopathic effect (CPE) when propagating hit viruses as well as checking the amount of adenoviral particles per well in a quantitative real-time PCR (Ma et al., 2000). Of the 3 negative control viruses, the N1 virus gives rise to some false positives due to toxicity. During screening, about 5% false positives for the N1 negative control are allowed. In this Example, 2 samples in 48 (+/−4%) score positive for the N1 control.

The complete SilenceSelect collection, consisting of 11,744 Ad-siRNAs targeting 5046 transcripts contained on 30×384 well plates, is screened in the “reverse MMP1 assay” according to the protocol described above. Every Ad-siRNA plate is screened in duplicate in a primary screen and a repeat screen. As such, four data points are obtained for each Ad-siRNA. Ad-siRNA viruses are nominated as hits if at least 1 data point in both the primary screen and repeat screen scored below threshold. A representative example of screening results and of the analysis performed to identify hits is shown in FIG. 8.

To determine the cutoff value for hit calling, the average as well as standard deviation is calculated on all data points per plate. The cutoff value is then defined as the average minus 1.82 times the standard deviation. This cutoff is indicated as a horizontal line in the graphs shown in FIG. 8. The data represented in FIG. 8 are expressed relative to the plate average as follows: the relative signal for a sample=[(raw luminescence signal for the sample)−(average signal over the plate)]/(the standard deviation over the plate). The average of the 2 duplicate signals obtained for all the 384 Ad-siRNAs in the primary screen (FIG. 8A) and in the repeat screen (FIG. 8B) are shown. The data points identified as hits are indicated as circles. A total of 408 hits that scored below the cutoff are isolated for the 3 MOI repeat screen discussed below. Almost all the same Ad-siRNAs score positive in both the primary screen and repeat screen. These data are indicative of the quality of the screening and of the SilenceSelect collection.

In FIG. 9, all data points obtained in the screening of the SilenceSelect collection against the reverse MMP1 assay are shown. The averaged relative luminescence data obtained from the duplicate samples in the primary screen (Y-axis) is plotted against the averaged relative luminescence data for the corresponding Ad-siRNA obtained in the repeat screen (X-axis). The cutoff (−1.82 times standard deviation) is indicated by dotted lines. The data points for Ad-siRNAs nominated as hits are indicated as triangles, the data points for the non-hit Ad-siRNAs are indicated as squares. The strong symmetry observed between the data of the primary screen and of the repeat screen (the data points are concentrated around a straight line) is indicative of the quality and reproducibility of the screening.

“3” MOI Repeat Screen

The 408 hits identified above are re-propagated. The crude lysates of the hit Ad-siRNAs samples from the SilenceSelect collection are picked and arranged together with negative controls in 9×96 well plates. As the containers of crude lystates are labeled with a barcode (Screenmates™, Matrix technologies), quality checks are performed on the plates. The general layout of such a “3” MOI repeat screen plate is shown in FIG. 10A. To propagate the viruses, 2.25×10⁴ PerC6.E2A cells are seeded in 200 μl of DMEM containing 10% non-heat inactivated FCS in each well of a 96 well plate and incubated overnight at 39° C. in a humidified incubator at 10% CO₂. One μl of crude lysate from each hit Ad-siRNAs, arranged in the 96 well plates as indicated above, is then added to separate wells of PerC6E2A cells using a 96 well dispenser. After 7 to 10 days of incubation in a humidified incubator at 10% CO₂, the re-propagation plates are frozen at −20° C., provided that complete CPE could be observed.

For the “3” MOI repeat screen, SFs are seeded in 96 well plates (Greiner, tissue culture treated) at a density of 3000 cells/well in 100 μl Synovial Cell growth medium (Cell Applications, Inc.). One day later, the SFs are infected with 3, 6, or 12 μl of the crude lysate contained in the re-propagation plates described above using a 96 well dispenser (TECAN freedom 200). Five days after infection, medium is removed from the plates, using a VacuSafe device (Integra), and 100 μl of two-fold diluted TNFalpha based trigger is added. After an incubation of 2 days, medium is collected with a 96 well dispenser (TECAN Freedom 200) and stored at −80° C. in 384 well plates until further processed in the reverse MMP1 ELISA according to the protocol described in Example 1.

The data from the MMP1 ELISA is analyzed as follows: To determine the cutoff value for hit calling, the average of the negative controls is calculated for every plate. For every MOI, a percentage is selected such that less than 3% of the negative controls would score as a hit over the 9 plates. The percentages are 23%, 26% and 19% for the 3 μl, 6 μl, and 12 μl infections, respectively. Of the 408 hits tested, 339 scored in duplicate at one MOI and are identified as a hit. 84% of the hits of the primary screen are thus confirmed in this 3 MOI repeat screen using repropagated Ad-siRNA material.

Quality Control of Target Ad-siRNAs

Target Ad-siRNAs are propagated using derivatives of PER.C6© cells (Crucell, Leiden, The Netherlands) in 96-well plates, followed by sequencing the siRNAs encoded by the target Ad-siRNA viruses. PERC6.E2A cells are seeded in 96 well plates at a density of 40,000 cells/well in 180 μl PER.E2A medium. Cells are then incubated overnight at 39° C. in a 10% CO₂ humidified incubator. One day later, cells are infected with 1 μl of crude cell lysate from SilenceSelect stocks containing target Ad-siRNAs. Cells are incubated further at 34° C., 10% CO₂ until appearance of cytopathic effect (as revealed by the swelling and rounding up of the cells, typically 7 days post infection). The supernatant is collected, and the virus crude lysate is treated with proteinase K by adding to 4 μl Lysis buffer (1× Expand High Fidelity buffer with MgCl₂ (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Cat. No 1332465) supplemented with 1 mg/ml proteinase K (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Cat No 745 723) and 0.45% Tween-20 (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Cat No 1335465) to 12 μl crude lysate in sterile PCR tubes. These tubes are incubated at 55° C. for 2 hours followed by a 15 minutes inactivation step at 95° C. For the PCR reaction, 1 μl lysate is added to a PCR master mix composed of 5 μl 10× Expand High Fidelity buffer with MgCl₂, 0.5 μl of dNTP mix (10 mM for each dNTP), 1 μl of “Forward primer” (10 mM stock, sequence: 5′ CCG TTT ACG TGG AGA CTC GCC 3′) (SEQ. ID NO. 879), 1 μl of “Reverse Primer” (10 mM stock, sequence: 5′ CCC CCA CCT TAT ATA TAT TCT TTC C) (SEQ. ID NO. 880), 0.2 μl of Expand High Fidelity DNA polymerase (3.5 U/μl, Roche Molecular Biochemicals) and 41.3 μl of H₂O. PCR is performed in a PE Biosystems GeneAmp PCR system 9700 as follows: the PCR mixture (50 μl in total) is incubated at 95° C. for 5 minutes; each cycle runs at 95° C. for 15 sec., 55° C. for 30 sec., 68° C. for 4 minutes, and is repeated for 35 cycles. A final incubation at 68° C. is performed for 7 minutes 5 μl of the PCR mixture is mixed with 2 μl of 6× gel loading buffer, loaded on a 0.8% agarose gel containing 0.5 μg/μl ethidium bromide to resolve the amplification products. The size of the amplified fragments is estimated from a standard DNA ladder loaded on the same gel. The expected size is approximately 500 bp. For sequencing analysis, the siRNA constructs expressed by the target adenoviruses are amplified by PCR using primers complementary to vector sequences flanking the SapI site of the pIPspAdapt6-U6 plasmid. The sequence of the PCR fragments is determined and compared with the expected sequence. All sequences are found to be identical to the expected sequence.

Example 3A Testing of 339 Hits of the “Reverse MMP1 Assay” to Exclude Hits that Influence MMP1 Expression Levels in a Nonspecific Way

To eliminate general toxicity (reduced viability) of SFs by the Ad-siRNAs as the cause of reduced expression of MMP1 in the reverse MMP1 assay, the CellTiter-Glo Luminescent Cell Viability Assay (Promega) is used. This Assay determines the number of viable cells in culture based on the quantity of ATP present, which is proportional to the presence of metabolically active cells. In this assay, cells are grown in a white 96 well plate at a density of 3000 cells/well in 100 μl Synovial Cell growth medium (Cell Applications, Inc.). After overnight incubation, cells are infected with the confirmed hits from the reverse MMP1 assay. Five days after infection, the medium is removed and replaced by 50 μl M199 medium supplemented with 1% FBS. The plate and its content are equilibrated to room temperature for 30 minutes. 50 μl celltiter-Glo reagent is added to the wells, followed by an incubation on an orbital shaker (5 minutes) in the dark. The measurement is performed on a luminoskan Ascent (Labsystems) luminometer, 100 ms integration time.

In a primary test, 12 μl of the viruses contained in the 3 MOI repeat screen plates (layout depicted in FIG. 10A) are used to infect the RASFs, and the readout is performed as described above. To determine which hit viruses cause general toxicity, a cutoff is calculated by averaging the signal for all data points contained in the plate (50 hits and 10 controls) and subtracting 1.5 times the standard deviation over all data points. The hits scoring under the cutoff value in the primary screen are retested as follows: The hits are picked, arranged in 96 well plates (according to the layout depicted in FIG. 10B) and used to infect SFs at 3 MOIs (3, 6, and 12 μl) according to the protocol described above. For the repeat screen, a cutoff is calculated by averaging the signal for all the controls and subtracting 2 times the standard deviation over the controls. Hits scoring under the cutoff in duplicate at one MOI are considered as inducing toxicity.

The secretion of TIMP-2 by SFs is determined to eliminate the factor of general suppression of SF secretory activity by the Ad-siRNAs as the cause of reduced expression of MMP1 in the reverse MMP1 assay. TIMP-2 is a protein that SFs express and secret constitutively. Secretion of TIMP-2 into the SF supernatant is blocked by the addition of BrefeldinA, a small molecule inhibitor of secretion. The level of SF TIMP-2 protein secretion is detected by ELISA. RASF cells are seeded in 96-well gelatin coated plates at 3000 cells/well in 100 μl synovial growth medium. After overnight incubation, cells are infected and incubated for 5 days at 37° C. in a 10% CO2 incubator. Virus is removed and 100 μl M199+1% FBS(HI) medium is applied on top of the cells. The supernatant is harvested after another 48 hours incubation and stored at −20° C. TIMP2 levels are determined by a standard ELISA assay, essentially as outlined for the MMP1 ELISA. In brief, 384-well white Greiner plates (Lumitrac 600) are coated overnight at 4° C. with 40 μl of anti-hTIMP2 capture antibody (Cat. No. MAB9711; R&D systems) at 1 μg/ml in PBS. Blocking is done for 4 hours at room temperature with 80 μl 0.1% caseine buffer and after a washing step (30 μl EC-buffer), 40 μl of the samples are added to the wells. Plates are incubated overnight at 4° C., and after washing twice with PBST (0.05% Tween-20) and PBS, 40 μl of the biotinylated anti-hTIMP2 detection antibody (100 ng/ml in Buffer C) (Cat.no. BAF971; R&D systems) is added to the wells. After 2 hours of incubation at room temperature, plates are washed again and incubated at room temperature for another 45 minutes after an addition of 40 μl of Streptavidin-HRP conjugate (Cat. No. SNN2004; BioSource) diluted 1/3000 in Buffer C. Finally, plates are washed and 501 μl of BM Chemiluminescence ELISA substrate (POD)(Cat. No. 1582950; Roche Diagnostic) is added to the wells. After 5 minutes incubation at room temperature in the dark, luminescence is quantified on a luminometer (Luminoscan Ascent).

The procedure described above (plate layout, MOI, method for determination of the cutoff) applied for these experiments is identical to the one described for the toxicity measurements (i.e., a primary test with 12 μl infection volume and a retest with 3, 6, 12 μl infection volumes) differing only in that the cutoff applied in the primary test is determined as the average over all samples minus 2 times standard deviation over all samples. In this assay, viruses mediating a reduction of the TIMP2 levels under the cutoff in duplicate for at least one MOI in the retest are considered as influencing the SF general secretion machinery.

From the 339 hits tested in the toxicity and TIMP secretion assay, 16 scored positive in these assays and considered mediating the reduction in cytokine induced MMP1 expression in an aspecific way. As such, 323 hits were identified as modulators of cytokine induced MMP1 expression, 16 of which are most preferred hits and listed in Table 1.

We conclude, from this experiment, that the genes associated with these hits and their expressed proteins represent valuable drug targets that are shown by these studies to modulate MMP1 expression in SFs.

TABLE 4 Hit SEQ KD Targets SEQ Protein No. 19-mer and 21-mer ID NO Gene Name Class Accession H46- TGCCGTGAATGGAGAACAC 253 DGK1 Kinase NM_004717 001 AATGCCGTGAATGGAGAACAC 254 H46- TCCTTAGTTCCTCAGAGGC 255 LATS1 Kinase NM_004690 002 AATCCTTAGTTCCTCAGAGGC 256 H46- GATTACCTTGCCTGTTGAC 257 PGK1 Kinase NM_000291 004 AAGATTACCTTGCCTGTTGAC 258 H46- CTGACTTTGGATTCTGTGC 259 PAK1 Kinase NM_002576 006 AACTGACTTTGGATTCTGTGC 260 H46- GACATGCCGCTATTTGAGC 261 PTK7 Kinase NM_152881; NM_002821; 008 AAGACATGCCGCTATTTGAGC 262 NM_152880; NM_152883; NM_152882 H46- AGTGAGACACTGACAGAAC 263 JAK2 Kinase NM_004972 009 AAAGTGAGACACTGACAGAAC 264 H46- CTGCATGCTGAATGAGAAC 131 AXL Kinase NM_021913; NM_001699; 010 AACTGCATGCTGAATGAGAAC 234 SK044 H46- GGCCTTGAAAGGACAGTAC 265 UCK1 Kinase NM_031432 011 AAGGCCTTGAAAGGACAGTAC 266 H46- GACTGAGTCAAGTGTCTGC 267 STK31 Kinase NM_031414; NM_032944 012 AAGACTGAGTCAAGTGTCTGC 268 SgK396 Kinase SK652 H46- TGGTGGCTACAACCAACTC 269 MAP4K5 Kinase NM_198794; NM_006575 013 AATGGTGGCTACAACCAACTC 270 H46- TGTGACTGTGGGAGTGGAC 271 HK1 Kinase NM_033498; NM_033500; 014 AATGTGACTGTGGGAGTGGAC 272 NM_033496; NM_000188; NM_033497 H46- ACTGCTGCTGTATGTGGAC 273 AK1 Kinase NM_000476 015 ACACTGCTGCTGTATGTGGAC 274 H46- CTGTGTTGATTTCTCTGCC 275 DNAH8 Protease NM_001371 016 AACTGTGTTGATTTCTCTGCC 276 H46- TCCCTTGTATCCGGACTTC 277 GALK2 Kinase NM_002044; 017 AATCCCTTGTATCCGGACTTC 278 NM_001001556 H46- CAAGAGCTGGTACCGCGTC 279 CTK Kinase SK418 019 AACAAGAGCTGGTACCGCGTC 280 MATK Kinase NM_002378; NM_139354; NM_139355 H46- GCTCCTCAGAGTGCAGCAC 134 SCN9A Ion Channel NM_002977 020 AAGCTCCTCAGAGTGCAGCAC 237 H46- CCTGAATGTGACTGTGGAC 140 DGKB Kinase NM_145695; NM_004080 021 AACCTGAATGTGACTGTGGAC 243 INCENP Not drugable NM_020238 H46- TGTGGTGGCCTACATTGGC 281 GCK Kinase SK048 022 AATGTGGTGGCCTACATTGGC 282 MAP4K2 Kinase NM_004579 H46- GAACCTCACTTCCAGTCAC 283 MPP6 Kinase NM_016447 024 AAGAACCTCACTTCCAGTCAC 284 H46- ATCAGTGGGCTGTGGATTC 285 MASTL Kinase NM_032844 025 AAATCAGTGGGCTGTGGATTC 286 H46- CATTGTGGACTTTGCTGGC 287 IRAK1 Kinase NM_001569 026 AACATTGTGGACTTTGCTGGC 288 AF346607 Kinase AF346607 H46- ATGACTGAGCCACACAAAC 289 LOC160848 Kinase XM_090535 028 ACATGACTGAGCCACACAAAC 290 MAPK6 Kinase NM_002748 H46- CATTGTGGACGTGCTGGCC 128 KCNF1 Ion Channel NM_002236 030 AACATTGTGGACGTGCTGGCC 231 H46- CTTTGCACCTATCTCTGAC 291 NEK8 Kinase SK476; NM_178170 033 ACCTTTGCACCTATCTCTGAC 292 H46- TGCGCTTTGCCAAGATGCC 293 BRD4 Not drugable NM_014299; SK763; 034 AATGCGCTTTGCCAAGATGCC 294 NM_058243 H46- ACATGTGTTCCAGAAGGAC 295 AMACO Not drugable NM_198496 035 GCACATGTGTTCCAGAAGGAC 296 LOC118680 Kinase XM_061091 H46- ACCTGGCTTCAACATCAGC 297 LOC163720 Cytochrome XM_089093 036 AAACCTGGCTTCAACATCAGC 298 P450 CYP4Z1 Cytochrome NM_178134 P450 H46- TGGATGACCACAAGCTGTC 299 ATP1A2 Ion Channel NM_000702 038 AATGGATGACCACAAGCTGTC 300 H46- ACATGCACTGCAGAAGGCC 301 CACNA1E Ion Channel NM_000721 039 AAACATGCACTGCAGAAGGCC 302 H46- ATGTGCCATCCAGTTGTGC 303 LOC136062 Kinase XM_069683 040 AAATGTGCCATCCAGTTGTGC 304 H46- CTATGTGGACTGGATCAAC 305 HGFAC Protease NM_001528 041 AACTATGTGGACTGGATCAAC 306 H46- TGAAGGCCTCACGTGTGTC 307 CTRL Protease NM_001907 042 ACTGAAGGCCTCACGTGTGTC 308 H46- CATGAAGGCCCGAAACTAC 309 MAPK3 Kinase NM_002746; XM_055766 043 AACATGAAGGCCCGAAACTAC 310 H46- AGATGGCCACAAACCTGCC 311 ACVR2 Kinase NM_001616 044 AAAGATGGCCACAAACCTGCC 312 H46- ATGAAGAGCAAGGCATTCC 313 DCK Kinase NM_000788 045 AAATGAAGAGCAAGGCATTCC 314 H46- CATCCCACACAAGTTCAGC 315 PRKCH Kinase NM_006255 046 AACATCCCACACAAGTTCAGC 316 H46- CTCATGTTTACCATGGTCC 317 CHRNB1 Ion Channel NM_000747 047 ACCTCATGTTTACCATGGTCC 318 H46- ATTGTTCTCCCAGATGGCC 319 CYP4F12 Cytochrome NM_023944 049 ACATTGTTCTCCCAGATGGCC 320 P450 H46- TTCATGAGAAGACTGGTGC 321 NRK Kinase NM_198465 050 ACTTCATGAGAAGACTGGTGC 322 H46- TGACTGCACCTATGAGAGC 323 LOC126392 Kinase XM_065057 051 CCTGACTGCACCTATGAGAGC 324 H46- TTCAGTGCATTCAAGGACC 325 FAD104 Receptor NM_022763 053 ACTTCAGTGCATTCAAGGACC 326 LOC205527 Receptor XM_116009 H46- ACGTGCCAGTTTCTTCTCC 327 LOC200959 Ion Channel XM_116036 054 AAACGTGCCAGTTTCTTCTCC 328 H46- GTGTATCTTATGCCTACAC 329 DOK5L Receptor NM_152721 055 ACGTGTATCTTATGCCTACAC 330 H46- AGCTGCTGGAGATGTTATC 331 UQCRC2 Protease NM_003366 056 ACAGCTGCTGGAGATGTTATC 332 H46- CAAGTGACTGTGTTGCCC 333 COL7A1 Not drugable NM_000094 058 ACCAAGTGACTGTGATTGCCC 334 H46- TTCAGTGCCTAACAGTGGC 335 CDC7 Kinase NM_003503 060 ACTTCAGTGCCTAACAGTGGC 336 H46- CTTGATCATGATGGCCTTC 337 PPAP2B Phosphatase NM_177414; NM_003713 061 ACCTTGATCATGATGGCCTTC 338 H46- ACCCGGCACCGTGTACTTC 339 CRLF1 Receptor NM_004750 062 AAACCCGGCACCGTGTACTTC 340 H46- CTACTGATGTCCCTGATAC 341 PPP1CB Phosphatase NM_206877; NM_206876; 063 ACCTACTGATGTCCCTGATAC 342 NM_002709 H46- TTTCTGTGAGCTGTGAAAC 343 SCYL2 Kinase SK475 064 ACTTTCTGTGAGCTGTGAAAC 344 FLJ10074 Kinase NM_017988 H46- TATACTGGAGCCTGTAACC 345 TNFRSF10D Drugable/ NM_003840 066 AATATACTGGAGCCTGTAACC 346 Secreted H46- TTTGTGGACTCCTACGATC 347 RHEB Enzyme NM_005614 067 AATTTGTGGACTCCTACGATC 348 H46- GGAGACAAGTTCGCATGTC 349 RASGRP1 Drugable/ NM_005739 068 AAGGAGACAAGTTCGCATGTC 350 Secreted H46- CGGCTGGTTCACCATGATC 351 SIAT7D Enzyme NM_175039; NM_014403; 070 ACCGGCTGGTTCACCATGATC 352 NM_175040 H46- GTATTCTGTACACCCTGGC 353 RDH11 Enzyme NM_016026 071 ACGTATTCTGTACACCCTGGC 354 H46- GACTGCTAGACAAGACGAC 355 NQO3A2 Enzyme NM_016243 072 ACGACTGCTAGACAAGACGAC 356 H46- CCTGTGTTCAGCTCTGGAC 357 IKBKAP Kinase NM_003640 073 AACCTGTGTTCAGCTCTGGAC 358 H46- ACATTCTCCTGGCCAGGTC 359 ARHGAP21 Drugable/ NM_020824 075 AAACATTCTCCTGGCCAGGTC 360 Secreted H46- GACTGAGAACCTTGATGTC 361 ATP1B2 Ion Channel NM_001678 078 AAGACTGAGAACCTTGATGTC 362 H46- TATTGCCCTGTTAGTGTTC 363 LOC201803 Enzyme XM_116196 079 CCTATTGCCCTGTTAGTGTTC 364 H46- TGTGGAGTCTTTGTGCTCC 365 LOC254017 Protease NM_172342 080 ACTGTGGAGTCTTTGTGCTCC 366 SENP5 Protease NM_152699 H46- TTCCTGTGGAATGACTGTC 367 LRRK1 Kinase NM_024652 081 AATTCCTGTGGAATGACTGTC 368 H46- ACGTGGTTGGAAGCTAACC 369 ABCB1 Transporter NM_000927 085 ACACGTGGTTGGAAGCTAACC 370 H46- CAAGTCTACACGGGCTCAC 371 HSD17B12 Enzyme NM_016142 086 AACAAGTCTACACGGGCTCAC 372 H46- TCCTGGAGGCTATCCGCAC 373 DNMT3B Enzyme NM_175850; NM_175848; 087 AATCCTGGAGGCTATCCGCAC 374 NM_006892; NM_175849 H46- TCGGCACAACAATCTAGAC 375 IDH3B Enzyme NM_006899; NM_174855; 088 ACTCGGCACAACAATCTAGAC 376 NM_174856 H46- ACGCGCCTTAATTTAGTCC 377 LDHL Enzyme NM_033195 089 AAACGCGCCTTAATTTAGTCC 378 H46- AGCATGATGATAGTTCCTC 379 TOP2B Enzyme NM_001068 090 CCAGCATGATGATAGTTCCTC 380 H46- TGGGCACACATCTCCAGTC 381 LOC219756 Kinase XM_166676 091 ACTGGGCACACATCTCCAGTC 382 H46- ACCGTGGAAGGCCTATCGC 383 CYP24A1 Cytochrome NM_000782 092 AAACCGTGGAAGGCCTATCGC 384 P450 H46- TGAATCCACAGCTCTACTC 385 LOC400301 Kinase XM_375150 093 AATGAATCCACAGCTCTACTC 386 LOC256238 Kinase XM_171744 H46- CAAGTACAACAAGGACTCC 387 CYP46A1 Cytochrome NM_006668 094 ACCAAGTACAACAAGGACTCC 388 P450 H46- CATTCAGTGCTGCCTTCAC 389 MGC16169 Kinase NM_033115 095 TCCATTCAGTGCTGCCTTCAC 390 TBCK Kinase SK664 H46- GATGGCCATCCTGCAGATC 391 TIF1b Kinase SK784 096 AAGATGGCCATCCTGCAGATC 392 TRIM28 Kinase NM_005762 H46- TCATTGTGCCATCCCAAAC 393 LOC169505 Kinase XM_095725 097 AATCATTGTGCCATCCCAAAC 394 H46- AACCTGGCCCTAATGCTGC 395 LOC220075 Receptor XM_169246 098 TCAACCTGGCCCTAATGCTGC 396 H46- CTGACTCACCTGGTACTGC 397 KCTD3 Ion Channel NM_016121 099 AACTGACTCACCTGGTACTGC 398 H46- TGCTGTGTGCTGGAGTACC 399 HAT Protease NM_004262 100 AATGCTGTGTGCTGGAGTACC 400 H46- GCATTGCTATTGCTCGGGC 401 ABCB11 Transporter NM_003742 101 ACGCATTGCTATTGCTCGGGC 402 H46- TGTGGAGTGTGAGAAGCTC 403 LOC131136 Transporter XM_067219 102 AATGTGGAGTGTGAGAAGCTC 404 H46- TCTGTGGGCCTCCTATTCC 405 APRT Enzyme NM_000485 104 ACTCTGTGGGCCTCCTATTCC 406 H46- TGCCGGCATCTCAACGTTC 407 BDH Enzyme NM_203315; NM_203314; 105 AATGCCGGCATCTCAACGTTC 408 NM_004051 H46- TGTGACTGTCCTAGTTGCC 409 UGT2A1 Enzyme NM_006798 106 AATGTGACTGTCCTAGTTGCC 410 H46- AGCTGTGTTCATCAACATC 411 GRHPR Enzyme NM_012203 107 ACAGCTGTGTTCATCAACATC 412 H46- TGGGCAGAATGTCCTGGAC 413 ITPR3 Ion Channel NM_002224 108 AATGGGCAGAATGTCCTGGAC 414 H46- CACATGCTCAACATGGTGC 415 RASGRP4 Drugable/ NM_170602; NM_170604; 110 ACCACATGCTCAACATGGTGC 416 Secreted NM_052949; NM_170603 H46- CAGTGACTAACCAGAACTC 417 LOC402692 Enzyme XM_380039 112 ACCAGTGACTAACCAGAACTC 418 H46- TACATGTGTCGGAGGTTTC 419 GNPNAT1 Enzyme NM_198066 113 ACTACATGTGTCGGAGGTTTC 420 H46- GATGTAGATACCACAAGGC 421 LOC160469 Enzyme XM_090320 114 ACGATGTAGATACCACAAGGC 422 H46- TGGTGGCAAGTCCATCTAC 423 LOC341457 Enzyme XM_292085 115 ACTGGTGGCAAGTCCATCTAC 424 LOC159692 Enzyme XM_089755 LOC399780 Enzyme XM_374813 LOC401706 Enzyme XM_377240 LOC122552 Enzyme XM_063182 LOC402644 Enzyme XM_379998 LOC391807 Enzyme XM_373092 LOC139318 Enzyme XM_066617 LOC402252 Enzyme XM_377934 LOC133419 Enzyme XM_068341 LOC165317 Enzyme XM_092514 LOC222940 Enzyme XM_167261 LOC401859 Enzyme XM_377444 H46- ACATGGTCCGAGTAGAAGC 425 LOC167127 Enzyme NM_174914; XM_094300 116 AAACATGGTCCGAGTAGAAGC 426 H46- ATGTGTTGTGGAGTCCGCC 427 LOC254142 Enzyme XM_171406 117 AAATGTGTTGTGGAGTCCGCC 428 H46- ACTTGGGCTGCAGTGCATC 429 CYP19A1 Cytochrome NM_000103; NM_031226 118 AAACTTGGGCTGCAGTGCATC 430 P450 H46- GTGGCCTAACCCGGAGAAC 431 CYP1B1 Cytochrome NM_000104 119 AAGTGGCCTAACCCGGAGAAC 432 P450 H46- AGTTCCTGGTGAACATTCC 433 TJP3 Kinase NM_014428 120 GCAGTTCCTGGTGAACATTCC 434 H46- GTTGTGTTCCCGAGACTAC 435 FLJ10986 Kinase NM_018291 121 AAGTTGTGTTCCCGAGACTAC 436 H46- AGAGCTGTGTCTGAACATC 437 PTHLH Drugable/ NM_002820; NM_198966; 122 AAGAGCTGTGTCTGAACATC 438 Secreted NM_198965; NM_198964 H46- TGCAAGGTGATCGGCTTCC 439 RASGRF1 Drugable/ NM_153815; NM_002891 123 AATGCAAGGTGATCGGCTTCC 440 Secreted H46- CGACACCAGAAATTCACTC 441 FGF16 Drugable/ NM_003868 125 AACGACACCAGAAATTCACTC 442 Secreted H46- TGTTCTCCATCTTCTTCCC 443 SLC12A3 Transporter NM_000339 126 AATGTTCTCCATCTTCTTCCC 444 H46- ATCTGTGTGGCAGGTTACC 445 MTHFR Enzyme NM_005957 127 ACATCTGTGTGGCAGGTTACC 446 H46- TAGCGCTCCTTTCCGTAAC 138 NQO2 Enzyme NM_000904 129 ACTAGCGCTCCTTTCCGTAAC 241 H46- TAGTCCAGTGGATCTCACC 447 LOC222593 Enzyme XM_167104 130 ACTAGTCCAGTGGATCTCACC 448 H46- TTCCAGGGATTACTCCAAC 449 CYP20A1 Cytochrome NM_020674; NM_177538 131 AATTCCAGGGATTACTCCAAC 450 P450 H46- ACTGACTCCAGTTTCTGCC 451 CYP20A1 Cytochrome NM_020674; NM_177538 132 AAACTGACTCCAGTTTCTGCC 452 P450 H46- TGGATGACTTCAGCTCTAC 453 GGTLA4 Enzyme NM_080920; NM_178312; 133 AATGGATGACTTCAGCTCTAC 454 NM_178311 H46- GCAGTCGACTCCAGAAGAC 455 USP47 Protease NM_017944 135 AAGCAGTCGACTCCAGAAGAC 456 H46- TGACTCTGCTAGGACGGTC 457 IL1R2 Receptor NM_004633; NM_173343 136 AATGACTCTGCTAGGACGGTC 458 H46- TGTTCTTTGGCTCTGCAGC 129 SLC9A8 Ion Channel NM_015266 137 AATGTTCTTTGGCTCTGCAGC 232 H46- AGAATCTGCAGAAAGCCAC 459 LOC159948 GPCR XM_089955 139 CCAGAATCTGCAGAAAGCCAC 460 H46- TTCCACAACGTGTGCCTGC 461 DUSP14 Phosphatase NM_007026 140 AATTCCACAACGTGTGCCTGC 462 H46- TGGGCGGGTAGATGGAATC 463 NAP1 Protease NM_004851 141 ACTGGGCGGGTAGATGGAATC 464 H46- GTGACTCATGATCTAGCCC 465 GGTL3 Protease NM_052830; NM_178026 142 ACGTGACTCATGATCTAGCCC 466 H46- GGCTGAAGCAGACACAGAC 467 RNPEPL1 Protease NM_018226 144 AAGGCTGAAGCAGACACAGAC 468 H46- GGACATTCAGATAGCGCTC 469 DUT Enzyme NM_001948 146 ACGGACATTCAGATAGCGCTC 470 H46- GATGTTCTGTGTGGGCTTC 471 TRY6 Protease NM_139000 147 AAGATGTTCTGTGTGGGCTTC 472 H46- TTTGTGGACCTGAGCTTCC 473 XPNPEP1 Protease NM_006523; NM_020383 148 ACTTTGTGGACCTGAGCTTCC 474 H46- TACTGGCTTCGCTTTCATC 475 LOC119714 Protease XM_061638 149 ACTACTGGCTTCGCTTTCATC 476 H46- TGGCTCTTACGTGATTCAC 477 LOC150426 Protease XM_086914 150 AATGGCTCTTACGTGATTCAC 478 H46- CTATGTTCAGCCCAAGCGC 479 LOC147221 Protease XM_102809 151 AACTATGTTCAGCCCAAGCGC 480 H46- GGGAAGACAGAGCTGTTTC 481 LOC124739 Protease XM_058840 152 AAGGGAAGACAGAGCTGTTTC 482 USP43 Protease XM_371015 H46- CCTGAGTTCCCAGCATGTC 483 BAA03370 Protease 3392317CA2 154 ACCCTGAGTTCCCAGCATGTC 484 LOC205016 Protease XM_114823 LOC388743 Protease XM_371344 H46- TGGCCTTGGAATCTCTTCC 485 LOC206841 Protease XM_116753 155 ACTGGCCTTGGAATCTCTTCC 486 H46- TGCTGTATCCTTCCTGGAC 487 LOC256618 Protease XM_171760 157 AATGCTGTATCCTTCCTGGAC 488 H46- TAACCCTGCCTACTACGTC 489 INPPL1 Phosphatase NM_001567 159 AATAACCCTGCCTACTACGTC 490 H46- TGCTGTGTGGTCTACCGAC 130 ARAF1 Kinase NM_001654 160 ACTGCTGTGTGGTCTACCGAC 233 H46- TCGGGCGGATCTGCTTATC 491 SLC26A6 Transporter NM_134263; NM_134426; 161 AATCGGGCGGATCTGCTTATC 492 NM_022911 H46- TGCTGCTGTCAACCCTTTC 493 DHRS4 Enzyme NM_021004 163 AATGCTGCTGTCAACCCTTTC 494 DHRS4L2 Enzyme NM_198083 H46- TCGTGGAAGGACTCATGGC 495 LOC125850 Enzyme XM_064826 164 AATCGTGGAAGGACTCATGGC 496 H46- ACCTGGTAACCAAGCCTGC 497 LOC133486 Enzyme XM_068376 166 ACACCTGGTAACCAAGCCTGC 498 H46- TGCTCCATCTCCCTGAGTC 499 DRD3 GPCR NM_033660 167 TCTGCTCCATCTCCCTGAGTC 500 H46- GTGGAACACACTTCAGTCC 501 BLP1 GPCR NM_031940; NM_078473 168 ACGTGGAACACACTTCAGTCC 502 H46- TGGAAGAGTCTGTTGATCC 503 GPR139 GPCR NM_001002911 169 ACTGGAAGAGTCTGTTGATCC 504 H46- TTCTTGACCAGTGATGGGC 505 LOC163107 GPCR XM_092005 170 ACTTCTTGACCAGTGATGGGC 506 H46- TGGGCAAGAAACTAAGCCC 507 LOC255993 Enzyme XM_171939 171 ACTGGGCAAGAAACTAAGCCC 508 H46- CAGATGTATCTGCCAGGAC 509 LOC254796 Kinase XM_172160 172 TCCAGATGTATCTGCCAGGAC 510 H46- GGCCTGCCAATTTAAGCGC 511 ATP1B4 Ion Channel NM_012069 174 AAGGCCTGCCAATTTAAGCGC 512 H46- GCGTGTCCTGACTTCTGTC 513 KSR Kinase XM_290793; XM_034172 175 AAGCGTGTCCTGACTTCTGTC 514 KSR1 Kinase SK205 H46- CACATACCCGGGACACTAC 515 PDHX Enzyme NM_003477 176 AACACATACCCGGGACACTAC 516 H46- TGTAGTTGCAAACCCAGGC 517 VN1R1 GPCR NM_020633 177 ACTGTAGTTGCAAACCCAGGC 518 H46- ATGGGCACCATGTTTGAAC 519 NR1I3 NHR NM_005122 178 ACATGGGCACCATGTTTGAAC 520 H46- TCTGCTGGTCATAGCAGCC 521 EDG4 GPCR NM_004720 179 AATCTGCTGGTCATAGCAGCC 522 H46- CATGACTGCTAGTGCTCAC 523 TGFBR2 Kinase NM_003242 180 AACATGACTGCTAGTGCTCAC 524 H46- TTGTGCCATCGTGGGCAAC 525 SIAT8B Enzyme NM_006011 182 ACTTGTGCCATCGTGGGCAAC 526 H46- ATCCACAGGAAATGAAGAC 527 FOLH1 Protease NM_004476 183 ACATCCACAGGAAATGAAGAC 528 PSMAL/GCP Protease NM_153696 III H46- CGTCATGATCGCGCTCACC 529 HTR5A GPCR NM_024012 185 AACGTCATGATCGCGCTCACC 530 H46- CCAGAAATCACTCCACTGC 531 F2RL2 GPCR NM_004101 186 AACCAGAAATCACTCCACTGC 532 H46- GCTGCTCACCAGGAACTAC 533 GPR14 GPCR NM_018949 187 ACGCTGCTCACCAGGAACTAC 534 H46- CATCCCACTCAAGATGCAC 535 GPR80 GPCR NM_080818 188 AACATCCCACTCAAGATGCAC 536 H46- GCCCATTGAGACACTGATC 133 NR2F6 NHR XM_373407; NM_005234 189 ACGCCCATTGAGACACTGATC 236 H46- CACACTAGATGCCATGATC 537 AGA Protease NM_000027 190 ACCACACTAGATGCCATGATC 538 H46- GCCGAAGACCTGTTCTATC 539 ACE2 Protease 3699373CA2; NM_021804 191 AAGCCGAAGACCTGTTCTATC 540 H46- GCAAGACGGATATGCATGC 541 ADAM23 Protease NM_003812 192 AAGCAAGACGGATATGCATGC 542 H46- GAGCAGATGTGGACCATGC 543 MMP1 Protease NM_002421 193 AAGAGCAGATGTGGACCATGC 544 H46- TGGGCTTGAAGCTGCTTAC 545 MMP1 Protease NM_002421 194 AATGGGCTTGAAGCTGCTTAC 546 H46- GGTATTGGAGGAGATGCTC 547 MMP8 Protease NM_002424 195 AAGGTATTGGAGGAGATGCTC 548 H46- CGTGAATGCCGAGTTGGGC 549 MGC13186 Protease NM_032324 196 AACGTGAATGCCGAGTTGGGC 550 H46- TCACTGTGGAGACATTTGC 551 ADAM9 Protease NM_003816 197 AATCACTGTGGAGACATTTGC 552 H46- GTGGGCTTCATCAACTACC 553 SLC7A8 Transporter NM_012244; NM_182728 199 ACGTGGGCTTCATCAACTACC 554 H46- CCTGACCCTGGAGCACATC 555 LCAT Enzyme NM_000229 200 AACCTGACCCTGGAGCACATC 556 H46- GGACAACATAACGATGCAC 557 GPD2 Enzyme NM_000408 201 ACGGACAACATAACGATGCAC 558 H46- ATCAGTGAGGCATTTGACC 559 ADH4 Enzyme NM_000670 202 AAATCAGTGAGGCATTTGACC 560 H46- TGGCTGGAGGACAAGTTCC 561 GSTT2 Enzyme NM_000854 203 AATGGCTGGAGGACAAGTTCC 562 H46- ATGGCCATTGCCATGGCTC 563 IMPDH1 Enzyme NM_183243 204 ACATGGCCATTGCCATGGCTC 564 IMPDH1 Enzyme NM_000883 H46- CTGGATGCTGCGCAAACAC 565 GCNT1 Enzymes for NM_001490 205 AACTGGATGCTGCGCAAACAC 566 KD H46- TGCTGCTTATCAACAACGC 567 SPR Enzyme NM_003124 206 ACTGCTGCTTATCAACAACGC 568 H46- ACATGCCACAGGAAACTAC 569 DPM1 Enzyme NM_003859 207 AAACATGCCACAGGAAACTAC 570 H46- CGAGTCCTAGGCTACATCC 571 ALDH1B1 Enzyme NM_000692 208 AACGAGTCCTAGGCTACATCC 572 H46- TGTGCCCAACGCCACCATC 573 ABCA3 Transporter NM_001089 209 AATGTGCCCAACGCCACCATC 574 H46- GCCTCGGACTTTCATCATC 575 ABCD2 Transporter NM_005164 210 AAGCCTCGGACTTTCATCATC 576 H46- TTGAACCCATCAGGCACTC 577 ADAM21 Protease NM_003813 211 AATTGAACCCATCAGGCACTC 578 H46- TGAACCCTGTTATCTACAC 579 ADRA2B GPCR NM_000682 213 ACTGAACCCTGTTATCTACAC 580 H46- CTTCCTGAAGACCAGGTTC 581 AF200815 Kinase AF200815 214 AACTTCCTGAAGACCAGGTTC 582 STK36 Kinase XM_050803; NM_015690 H46- ATGGACATTGACGTGATCC 583 ALPI Phosphatase NM_001631 217 ACATGGACATTGACGTGATCC 584 ALPP Phosphatase NM_001632 H46- TTTCCCTTCAAGGCCCTGC 585 CAD35089 Drugable/ 3663102CA2 219 ACTTTCCCTTCAAGGCCCTGC 586 Secreted ART5 Enzyme NM_053017 H46- AAGTCTCAAGAGTCACAGC 587 BAP1 Protease NM_004656 220 ACAAGTCTCAAGAGTCACAGC 588 H46- AATAGCAAGAATGTGTGCC 589 PANK2 Kinase NM_153641; NM_153638; 222 TCAATAGCAAGAATGTGTGCC 590 NM_153637; NM_024960; NM_153639; NM_153640 H46- AGAAGAAGGTGGTGTGGAC 591 CARD14 Kinase NM_024110 223 GCAGAAGAAGGTGGTGTGGAC 592 H46- TGCCGTGGTGCACTATAGC 593 CELSR2 GPCR NM_001408 224 AATGCCGTGGTGCACTATAGC 594 H46- AGTGTCCACTCAGGAACTC 595 CHEK2 Kinase NM_145862; NM_007194 225 ACAGTGTCCACTCAGGAACTC 596 H46- GTGTTCCTTCAGACTCTTC 137 CHRNA5 Ion Channel NM_000745 226 ACGTGTTCCTTCAGACTCTTC 240 H46- TGCATGATGTCGGTCACCC 597 COX10 Enzyme NM_001303 227 ACTGCATGATGTCGGTCACCC 598 H46- CTGTGCCTGCCATTACAAC 599 CTGF Drugable/ NM_001901 228 ACCTGTGCCTGCCATTACAAC 600 Secreted H46- GACTACAGTGATTGTCGGC 601 CYP17A1 Cytochrome NM_000102 229 AAGACTACAGTGATTGTCGGC 602 P450 H46- CTCTGTGTTCCACTTCGGC 603 DPYD Enzyme NM_000110 232 AACTCTGTGTTCCACTTCGGC 604 H46- GGAGATCGTGCTGGAGAAC 605 FGF17 Drugable/ NM_003867 233 ACGGAGATCGTGCTGGAGAAC 606 Secreted H46- CGTGGCCTACATCATCATC 607 GPR108 GPCR XM_290854 235 AACGTGGCCTACATCATCATC 608 H46- TGCAGCCAGTGGAATGTCC 609 GPRC5D GPCR NM_018654 236 ACTGCAGCCAGTGGAATGTCC 610 H46- GTATGGCATGCAGCTGTAC 611 GRB14 Drugable/ NM_004490 237 AAGTATGGCATGCAGCTGTAC 612 Secreted H46- GAATGGCTTTGCTGTGGTC 613 HDAC4 Enzyme NM_006037 238 AAGAATGGCTTTGCTGTGGTC 614 H46- ATGTTCCAGGAGATCGTCC 615 CNDP1 Protease NM_032649 239 AATGTTCCAGGAGATCGTCC 616 H46- ACATTCAGCTGTGAACTCC 617 HSD11B2 Enzyme NM_000196 240 ACACATTCAGCTGTGAACTCC 618 H46- CAAGCCCTTCCGTGTACTC 619 INPP5A Phosphatase NM_005539 241 AACAAGCCCTTCCGTGTACTC 620 H46- CCAGCATCCTTTGCATTAC 621 ITGAE Drugable/ NM_002208 242 ACCCAGCATCCTTTGCATTAC 622 Secreted H46- TGCAGTCAGTTGTCCATAC 623 KCNA4 Ion Channel NM_002233 243 AATGCAGTCAGTTGTCCATAC 624 H46- AGGCCAATCCTGGTAGCAC 625 KIAA0669 Receptor NM_014779 245 ACAGGCCAATCCTGGTAGCAC 626 H46- ATCCTGGGCTATTGGACTC 627 LDHA Enzyme NM_005566 246 ACATCCTGGGCTATTGGACTC 628 H46- CATGGCCTGTGCAATTATC 629 LOC343066 Enzyme XM_291392 247 ACCATGGCCTGTGCAATTATC 630 H46- GGCTGGTATACAGGAACAC 631 LOC128183 Enzyme XM_060863 248 AAGGCTGGTATACAGGAACAC 632 H46- ACATGCCATTACCAGCATC 633 FLJ16046 Protease NM_207407 249 AAACATGCCATTACCAGCATC 634 LOC389208 Protease XM_371695 LOC133177 Protease XM_068225 H46- TTGCTGCTATGTCAGATCC 635 LOC138967 Cytochrome XM_071222 250 AATTGCTGCTATGTCAGATCC 636 P450 H46- ACGTGGACCAAGTCATGCC 637 DUSP18 Phosphatase NM_152511 251 ACACGTGGACCAAGTCATGCC 638 H46- TTGGATCCTAATGAGCTGC 639 IMP5 Protease NM_175882 253 ACTTGGATCCTAATGAGCTGC 640 H46- GTCTTGTGTCAGAATTTCC 641 LOC163107 GPCR XM_092005 254 ACGTCTTGTGTCAGAATTTCC 642 H46- AGTAGGCAACGACAGCAGC 643 LOC222656 GPGR XM_167080 256 AAAGTAGGCAACGACAGCAGC 644 H46- CTAAGGAGGCTCGGAAATC 645 LOC256669 Kinase XM_171416 259 GCCTAAGGAGGCTCGGAAATC 646 H46- GGCTCTGTCAAGGCCATTC 647 LOC257260 Protease XM_174353 260 TCGGCTCTGTCAAGGCCATTC 648 H46- TAATGACTTTGGCGCTGTC 649 ADCK1 Kinase SK401; NM_020421 261 CCTAATGACTTTGGCGCTGTC 650 H46- CTACATGGACCGCTTCACC 651 SPINL Transporter NM_032038 262 AACTACATGGACCGCTTCACC 652 H46- TAGCCAAGAGTTCAGCCCC 653 MAP3K14 Kinase NM_003954 263 AATAGCCAAGAGTTCAGCCCC 654 H46- CTCCACAAACTGATCAGCC 655 MAP3K14 Kinase NM_003954 264 AACTCCACAAACTGATCAGCC 656 H46- GACTGTGAGCTGAAGATCC 141 MAPK12 Kinase NM_002969 265 AAGACTGTGAGCTGAAGATCC 244 H46- ACCTGAAGAAAGGGAGAGC 657 MIDORI Kinase NM_020778; XM_057651 266 ACACCTGAAGAAAGGGAGAGC 658 H46- AACCCTATGCTGCCTATGC 659 NAALADL1 Protease NM_005468 269 ACAACCCTATGCTGCCTATGC 660 H46- TGGCACTTCGGGCAATAAC 139 NQO2 Enzyme NM_000904 271 ACTGGCACTTCGGGCAATAAC 242 H46- GAAGTTCATCAGCGCCATC 661 NTSR1 GPCR NM_002531 272 AAGAAGTTCATCAGCGCCATC 662 H46- AGCTGCCTGGAAGCATTAC 663 PDK1 Kinase NM_002610 273 AAAGCTGCCTGGAAGCATTAC 664 H46- CAGTGTTACACGGCTTTCC 665 PIK3C3 Kinase NM_002647 275 AACAGTGTTACACGGCTTTCC 666 H46- GACTGAATCAGGCCTTCCC 667 PPIH Enzyme NM_006347 278 AAGACTGAATCAGGCCTTCCC 668 H46- TGCCTGGGACCAGAGCTTC 669 PKN1 Kinase SK317 279 AATGCCTGGGACCAGAGCTTC 670 PRKCL1 Kinase NM_213560; NM_002741 H46- GTCCAAGATGGAGCTACAC 671 PSMB10 Protease NM_002801 280 GCGTCCAAGATGGAGCTACAC 672 H46- ATATCATGTGAACCTCCTC 673 PSMB2 Protease NM_002794 281 CCATATCATGTGAACCTCCTC 674 H46- CGTCGTCCAAAGCAGAAGC 675 PTGIR GPCR NM_000960 282 AACGTCGTCCAAAGCAGAAGC 676 H46- TGTAGTGCAGGCATTGGGC 677 PTPN2 Phosphatase NM_080423; NM_002828; 283 ACTGTAGTGCAGGCATTGGGC 678 NM_080422 H46- TGTGGGAGAACTGAAGTCC 679 PTPN4 Phosphatase NM_002830 284 ACTGTGGGAGAACTGAAGTCC 680 H46- GAAGAACAGCAGCCTGGAC 681 RASD1 Enzyme NM_016084 285 AAGAAGAACAGCAGCCTGGAC 682 H46- GATGGACTCAGGTGGACTC 683 SENP3 Protease NM_015670 286 AAGATGGACTCAGGTGGACTC 684 H46- TGCTGCATCCGACAGATCC 685 DustyPK Kinase NM_015375; NM_199462 287 AATGCTGCATCCGACAGATCC 686 H46- TTTCCAGGTCATCTGCTCC 687 SLC28A2 Transporter NM_004212 288 ACTTTCCAGGTCATCTGCTCC 688 H46- TTCCAGGTCCTGAAGCGAC 689 SLC6A2 Transporter NM_001043 289 ACTTCCAGGTCCTGAAGCGAC 690 H46- TTGTGGAGAGCTCGAATTC 691 SLC8A1 Ion Channel NM_021097 290 ACTTGTGGAGAGCTCGAATTC 692 H46- ATGGCCAGCAACCTGATGC 693 GPR124 GPCR NM_032777 291 ACATGGCCAGCAACCTGATGC 694 H46- TTCTCAGGCACCCTCTACC 695 TLK1 Kinase XM_002626; AB004885; 292 AATTCTCAGGCACCCTCTACC 696 SK373; NM_012290 H46- GTGCTGGATTCTGCCATGC 697 TPST1 Enzyme NM_003596 293 AAGTGCTGGATTCTGCCATGC 698 H46- GTGTGTTAGCACGACTTTC 699 TPTE Ion Channel NM_013315; NM_199259 294 AAGTGTGTTAGCACGACTTTC 700 H46- CATCCTGCTGTCCAACCCC 701 ULK1 Kinase NM_003565 296 AACATCCTGCTGTCCAACCCC 702 H46- TGGTGGCAGACATCCCTTC 703 XDH Enzyme NM_000379 297 ACTGGTGGCAGACATCCCTTC 704 H46- GCACAGCACTTCCACAAGC 705 GDF10 Drugable/ NM_004962 299 ACGCACAGCACTTCCACAAGC 706 Secreted H46- AGGAGTTTGGGAACCAGAC 707 DO Enzyme NM_021071 300 ACAGGAGTTTGGGAACCAGAC 708 H46- CACTGGCATCATCTGTACC 709 LOC339395 Kinase XM_290872 301 AACACTGGCATCATCTGTACC 710 PKM2 Kinase NM_182471; NM_002654; NM_182470 H46- GTGACTACACAAGGACTCC 711 CCR2 GPCR NM_000647 322 AAGTGACTACACAAGGACTCC 712 H46- CTTCTCCTTTGGTGGCTGC 713 HTR4 GPCR NM_000870 323 AACTTCTCCTTTGGTGGCTGC 714 H46- AGTGGGTAAAGCCAATGGC 715 RPE Enzyme XM_030834; NM_199229; 324 ACAGTGGGTAAAGCCAATGGC 716 NM_006916 LOC90470 Enzyme XM_031975 H46- GCTGCTCAGAAACGTTCTC 717 RPE Enzyme XM_030834; NM_199229; 325 AAGCTGCTCAGAAACGTTCTC 718 NM_006916 LOC90470 Enzyme XM_031975 H46- ACCACACTCACGCAGTATC 719 RHOBTB1 Enzyme NM_198225; NM_014836 326 ACACCACACTCACGCAGTATC 720 H46- GTCTGTCTGTAAGAACACC 721 USP31 Protease NM_020718 328 AAGTCTGTCTGTAAGAACACC 722 KIAA1203 Protease XM_049683 H46- GATGTAGAGCTGGCCTACC 723 LOC150537 Kinase XM_086946 329 AAGATGTAGAGCTGGCCTACC 724 LOC389069 Not drugable XM_371588 SEPHS1 Kinase MM_012247 H46- GGTGAGCGTGGACATCTTC 725 ABCA2 Transporter NM_001606; NM_212533 330 AAGGTGAGCGTGGACATCTTC 726 H46- GTGGAACAAGAGGTACAAC 727 ABCA6 Transporter NM_080284; NM_172346 331 AAGTGGAACAAGAGGTACAAC 728 H46- CGATGGCTTCCACGTCTAC 729 ACVR1 Kinase NM_001105 332 AACGATGGCTTCCACGTCTAC 730 H46- GTGGGCAATGAATATGGCC 731 ADORA2B GPCR NM_000676 333 AAGTGGGCAATGAATATGGCC 732 H46- TTCTGTGGTGGTTCTGGTC 733 CCR4 GPCR NM_005508 334 AATTCTGTGGTGGTTCTGGTC 734 H46- CTTCATTATCCACAGGGAC 735 CDK10 Kinase NM_003674; NM_052987; 335 AACTTCATTATCCACAGGGAC 736 NM_052988 H46- GGTGGAGCACTACCGCATC 737 CSK Kinase NM_004383 336 AAGGTGGAGCACTACCGCATC 738 H46- AAGTTCCCGAACGATCACC 739 ENSG000001 Protease ENSG00000117094 338 ACAAGTTCCCGAACGATCACC 740 17094 H46- CTCTGTGTGCCTGTCGTTC 741 KAZALD1 Drugable/ NM_030929 339 ACCTCTGTGTGCCTGTCGTTC 742 Secreted H46- TGGCACCTTAACTGGAGTC 743 GPR64 GPCR NM_005756 341 AATGGCACCTTAACTGGAGTC 744 H46- GAAGCCTGAAGACACAAAC 136 ILK Kinase NM_004517 343 AAGAAGCCTGAAGACACAAAC 239 H46- TCTTCTCCCAGAGGAAGGC 745 DPP10 Protease NM_020868 345 AATCTTCTCCCAGAGGAAGGC 746 KIAA1492 Protease XM_035312 H46- CTGCTCCAGCATCACTATC 747 KLK10 Protease NM_002776; NM_145888 346 ACCTGCTCCAGCATCACTATC 748 H46- ATTCTGTGGGCTCATCACC 749 LIFR Receptor NM_002310 347 AAATTCTGTGGGCTCATCACC 750 H46- GCAGGACTTCAGAACACAC 751 LOC118461 Transporter XM_060969 348 AAGCAGGACTTCAGAACACAC 752 H46- AGCCTGGTTCATTCTAAAC 753 LOC150287 Transporter XM_086889 349 ACAGCCTGGTTCATTCTAAAC 754 H46- ACTGTGGGATTGACCAGGC 755 LOC151234 Enzyme XM_087136 351 ACACTGTGGGATTGACCAGGC 756 H46- TTCAGAATTCAGGCAGCTC 757 C9orf52 Protease NM_152574 352 ACTTCAGAATTCAGGCAGCTC 758 LOC158219 Protease XM_088514 H46- ACTGGGCATTTCCTACTGC 759 IMP5 Protease NM_175882 353 ACACTGGGCATTTCCTACTGC 760 H46- GCTGTGGGAGAACTATCCC 761 LOC205678 Protease XM_120320 354 AAGCTGTGGGAGAACTATCCC 762 H46- ATGGACCTGACCTGCATTC 763 LOC255782 Enzyme XM_172181 356 TCATGGACCTGACCTGCATTC 764 H46- TCTTCTCACATGGAAATGC 765 C9orf77 Protease NM_016014 357 ACTCTTCTCACATGGAAATGC 766 H46- CCATTCCATGGTGTTTACC 767 MALT1 Protease NM_006785; NM_173844 358 ACCCATTCCATGGTGTTTACC 768 H46- GCACATGCAGCATGAGAAC 135 MAPK13 Kinase NM_002754 359 AAGCACATGCAGCATGAGAAC 238 H46- ACATGGGCTATCTCAAGCC 769 MC2R GPCR NM_000529 360 AAACATGGGCTATCTCAAGCC 770 H46- CTTCCTGTCTCCCTTCTAC 771 SLC22A13 Transporter NM_004256 362 AACTTCCTGTCTCCCTTCTAC 772 H46- CGTCTCACAGTATGCATTC 773 7050585CA2 Drugable/ 7050585CA2 363 AACGTCTCACAGTATGCATTC 774 Secreted PCTK2 Kinase NM_002595 H46- AGCTGCTATCCAACTCACC 775 TP53I3 Enzyme NM_147184; NM_004881 364 ACAGCTGCTATCCAACTCACC 776 H46- CAACGTGGAGGAGGAGTTC 777 PP1665 PDE NM_030792 365 ACCAACGTGGAGGAGGAGTTC 778 H46- CAGGCCTGTGGAAACATAC 779 PPP2R2A Phosphatase NM_002717 366 AACAGGCCTGTGGAAACATAC 780 H46- TGATGGCCTTTCCCTGTGC 781 PLA1A Enzyme NM_015900 368 ACTGATGGCCTTTCCCTGTGC 782 H46- GACTCTGGGCTGCTCTATC 783 PTPRN Phosphatase NM_002846 369 AAGACTCTGGGCTGCTCTATC 784 H46- TTCCGTGGCCTGTTCAATC 785 SIAT7B Enzyme NM_006456 371 ACTTCCGTGGCCTGTTCAATC 786 H46- GGGCAACAATGACTGTGAC 787 TEX14 Kinase NM_031272; NM_198393 372 ACGGGCAACAATGACTGTGAC 788 H46- ACCTGGCTTCCCTTCCTTC 789 TFR2 Protease NM_003227 373 ACACCTGGCTTCCCTTCCTTC 790 H46- CATGCTCAAGGCCATGTTC 791 TNFAIP1 Ion Channel NM_021137 374 ACCATGCTCAAGGCCATGTTC 792 H46- TCAGTTCCCAGCTCTGCAC 793 TNFSF15 Drugable/ NM_005118 375 AATCAGTTCCCAGCTCTGCAC 794 Secreted H46- CATCACAATTGGCCATCAC 795 TOP2B Enzyme NM_001068 376 TCCATCACAATTGGCCATCAC 796 H46- TGGAAGATTATCCTGTGTC 797 TRPM8 Ion Channel NM_024080 377 ACTGGAAGATTATCCTGTGTC 798 H46- TACATTCACCCTGTGTGTC 799 F2 Protease NM_000506 379 ACTACATTCACCCTGTGTGTC 800 H46- GATGTGCCTGTCCTGTGTC 801 IL1RN Receptor NM_000577; NM_173843; 380 AAGATGTGCCTGTCCTGTGTC 802 NM_173842; NM_173841 H46- ATTTGTGGGCAACTCAGCC 803 LOC133179 Protease XM_068227 381 AAATTTGTGGGCAACTCAGCC 804 H46- ATCAGAAGAAAGCCATGAC 805 ATAD1 Enzyme NM_032810 382 ACATCAGAAGAAAGCCATGAC 806 H46- CATGTGTGGGAAGTTGTTC 807 ADAM28 Protease NM_014265; NM_021778 385 ACCATGTGTGGGAAGTTGTTC 808 H46- TTGCTGAGATGTGTTAGGC 809 LOC145624 Protease XM_096824 387 CCTTGCTGAGATGTGTTAGGC 810 H46- CCACCATGCAGACAAGTCC 811 ADAMTS6 Protease NM_014273 389 AACCACCATGCAGACAAGTCC 812 H46- ACTGACCTCAGAGTACCAC 813 ADORA3 GPCR NM_000677 390 AAACTGACCTCAGAGTACCAC 814 H46- CGACACAGTGGTGCTCTAC 815 DUSP6 Phosphatase NM_022652; NM_001946 392 ACCGACACAGTGGTGCTCTAC 816 H46- GATCTCCCGCTTCCCGCTC 132 FGFR3 Kinase NM_000142 393 AAGATCTCCCGCTTCCCGCTC 235 H46- CGTCTACTCGCTGGCCTTC 817 FZD9 GPCR NM_003508 394 AACGTCTACTCGCTGGCCTTC 818 H46- TGCTGGTGCCATTGTTGTC 819 GLS2 Enzyme NM_138566; NM_013267 395 AATGCTGGTGCCATTGTTGTC 820 H46- ACAACTCAGAGGGACCTTC 821 GALNT6 Enzyme NM_007210 396 ACACAACTCAGAGGGACCTTC 822 H46- AGGTAATGTGGAACACAGC 823 GSR Enzyme NM_000637 398 AAAGGTAATGTGGAACACAGC 824 H46- CAACTCCACACTGGACTTC 825 LOC138685 Drugable/ XM_071038 399 ACCAACTCCACACTGGACTTC 826 Secreted LOC158017 Drugable/ XM_095763 Secreted IFNW1 Drugable/ NM_002177 Secreted H46- TGCAGATGGTTGTGCTCCC 827 IL24 Drugable/ NM_006850 400 AATGCAGATGGTTGTGCTCCC 828 Secreted H46- AACATGATATGTGCTGGAC 829 KLK10 Protease NM_002776; NM_145888 401 ACAACATGATATGTGCTGGAC 830 H46- AACACGGTGGAGCTGCTGC 831 FLJ37478 Enzyme NM_178557 404 ACAACACGGTGGAGCTGCTGC 832 H46- TTCCACAGCATGAACTGGC 833 LOC221757 Kinase XM_167231 406 AATTCCACAGCATGAACTGGC 834 H46- AGATGCATCTTCCCTCCAC 835 LOC255449 Protease XM_171993 407 AAAGATGCATCTTCCCTCCAC 836 LOC442045 Protease XM_497874 H46- ATAAGCGGTTATCACTGCC 837 PCTK2 Kinase NM_002595 409 AAATAAGCGGTTATCACTGCC 838 H46- AGTCACAATGTCAAGTGAC 839 PDHX Enzyme NM_003477 410 ACAGTCACAATGTCAAGTGAC 840 H46- CTCAACCCAGAACCTGAGC 841 PPP1R12C Phosphatase NM_017607 411 ACCTCAACCCAGAACCTGAGC 842 H46- AGTATCAGGAGCCAATACC 843 PSMA4 Protease NM_002789 412 ACAGTATCAGGAGCCAATACC 844 H46- AATCCTGTATTCAAGGCGC 845 PSMB1 Protease NM_002793 413 ACAATCCTGTATTCAAGGCGC 846 H46- GAGCGCATCTACTGTGCAC 847 PSMB9 Protease NM_148954; NM_002800 414 ACGAGCGCATCTACTGTGCAC 848 H46- ACATGGACGAGTGTCTCAC 849 RYR2 Ion Channel NM_001035 415 ACACATGGACGAGTGTCTCAC 850 H46- TCCGAGCGATTTAAGGAAC 851 SHH Protease NM_000193 416 ACTCCGAGCGATTTAAGGAAC 852 H46- TGGAGTCCTTCAAGGCTAC 853 SRD5A2 Enzyme NM_000348 417 AATGGAGTCCTTCAAGGCTAC 854 H46- CATCATGGATGAGTGTGGC 855 SV2B Transporter NM_014848 418 ACCATCATGGATGAGTGTGGC 856 H46- ATTCAGCAGAAGCCCAGAC 857 UGT1A6 Enzyme NM_001072 419 ACATTCAGCAGAAGCCCAGAC 858 H46- TGAGCCACGGGAATGTGCC 859 ULK2 Kinase NM_014683 420 AATGAGCCACGGGAATGTGCC 860 H46- TTCCACCTACCAGTCCACC 861 PGA5 Protease NM_014224 423 TCTTCCACCTACCAGTCCACC 862 H46- CAGCACATTCAGCTGCAGC 863 FGF1 Drugable/ NM_000800 424 ACCAGCACATTCAGCTGCAGC 864 Secreted H46- ATCATGGCTGTGACCACAC 865 NDUFS2 Enzyme NM_004550 426 ACATCATGGCTGTGACCACAC 866 H46- AGTGGCCTTCCTCAGGAAC 867 NR0B2 NHR NM_021969 427 ACAGTGGCCTTCCTCAGGAAC 868 H46- AGTTCTACGACTCCAACAC 869 PAK2 Kinase NM_002577 429 AAAGTTCTACGACTCCAACAC 870

Example 3B Application of Additional Assays and Exclusion Criteria

The 323 hits identified through the primary “reverse MMP1 assay” are further prioritized using the “reverse collagen degradation assay”, which is based on the observation that the supernatant of RA SFs treated with “TNFα-based trigger” has collagenolytic potential. As degradation of native collagen is mediated by multiple proteases (collagenases), the reduction in the degradation of collagen is a more stringent readout compared to reading out only MMP1 expression. The effect of TARGET expression reduction in RA SFs (by means of KD-viruses) on the cytokine-induced collagen degradation by RA SFs is tested using an assay developed in house. In this assay, the degradation of FITC-labeled native collagen gives rise to an increase in fluorescence signal. (The protocol of this assay is detailed in the description of Example 6 (FIG. 12).).

The 323 hit KD viruses identified in the “reverse MMP1 assay” are arrayed in 96 well plates (“Hit plates”) such that every plate contained 60 hit viruses along with 4 positive control viruses and 16 negative control viruses. RA SF, seeded in 96 well plates at a density of 3000 cells/well in complete synovial growth medium (Cell Applications) are infected, one day later, with 5 or 10 μl of the viruses contained in the “hit plates”. The virus load is completed by addition 6 μl of the neutral virus Ad5-Luciferase-v13_KD. This correction guarantees that the effects observed do not result from differences in the virus load applied to the cells. 5 days after infection, the activation step is performed. This step involves the replacement, in every well, of the growth medium by 45 μl of M199 medium supplemented with 15 μl of “TNFα-based trigger”. 4 days later, the supernatant is collected and subjected to the miniaturized collagen type I degradation assay according to the protocol described for the experiment depicted in FIG. 12. Two independent propagation materials for every target KD virus are tested twice at both MOIs, giving rise to 4 data points for each MOI. The results are analysed as follows:

For every plate, the samples with corresponding fluorescence value lower then the average over all negative controls minus 2.1 times (5 μl infection) or 1.6 times (10 μl infection) the standard deviation over all negative controls are considered as giving a positive response in the assay. Every Target KD virus giving rise to 3 out of 4 data points giving a positive readout in the assay is considered as significantly reducing “TNF-based trigger”-induced collagen degradation by RA SFs. Alternatively, every Target KD virus generating 2 positive responses in the assay (out of 4 data points) for each MOI tested are considered as significantly reducing collagen degradation. Of the 323 target KD viruses tested, 192 significantly reduced the “TNF-based trigger”-induced collagen degradation by RA SFs.

To select for the preferred hits, we used a second assay that tests for the effect of the target expression reduction in RA SFs (by means of KD-viruses) on the LPS or TNFα-induced IL8 expression by RA SFs. This assay (1) confirms that the target KD viruses selected are not inhibiting the LPS signaling in RA SFs too much, as LPS signaling is required for the response of patients to pathogens and its complete inhibition would compromise the patients' innate immunity.; and (2) confirms that the targets do not enhance the TNFα-induced expression of an inflammation marker. The chemokine IL8 is selected as a readout in this assay. This chemokine plays a role in the recruitment of cells of the immune system (e.g. monocytes, neutrophils) to the site of inflammation (the joint in the case of RA), further increasing the local inflammatory events. Increase of IL8 expression is not a desired feature for a RA therapy.

The target KD viruses identified in the “reverse MMP1 assay” and giving a positive readout in the “reverse collagen degradation assay” are tested in the LPS/TNFα-induced IL8 assay as follows: 192 target KD viruses are arrayed in 96 well plates (“Hit plates”) such that every plate contained 60 target viruses along with 20 negative control viruses. Day 1, SFs (passage 9 to 12) are seeded in 96 well plates at a density of 3000 cells per well in complete synovial growth medium (Cell Applications). One day later, the cells are infected with two amounts (6 or 12 μl) of the target KD viruses arrayed in 96 well plates as indicated above. The cells are then incubated for 5 days before the activation step, which involves the replacement, in every well, of the growth medium by 150 μl of DMEM supplemented with 10% Fetal bovine serum (heat inactivated) and the trigger (2 ng/ml recombinant human TNFα or 1 μg/ml LPS). 48 hrs after the activation step, 80 μl of the supernatant is collected and a dilution from this is used for the IL-8 ELISA as described for the experiment depicted in FIG. 13. For the samples triggered with TNFα a 40-fold dilution is made in PBS+1% BSA, and for LPS samples, a 16 fold dilution is performed. 35 μl from these dilutions is subjected to the IL-8 ELISA. Two independent preparations of the target KD viruses are tested at 2 MOI in 2 independent experiments giving rise to 4 data points per MOI for every target KD virus tested.

Data are analysed as follows: the 96 well plates containing the KD viruses designed to reduce the expression of the targets also contained 20 negative controls. The percentage inhibition of IL8 expression is calculated as percentage relative to the negative controls as follows: First, the background signal of the ELISA (in the absence of IL8) is subtracted from all values for all samples. Then the following formula is applied for every plate: % inhibition=[100×(((Average value all negative controls)−value Target sample)/(Average value all negative controls))]. All the Target KD viruses are ranked depending on their performance in the TNFα and LPS induced IL8 assay. 10% of the target KD viruses giving the strongest inhibition of LPS-induced IL8 are considered less preferred as well as 5% of the target KD viruses giving rise to the strongest increase of the TNFα-induced IL8 expression by RA SFs. As such, 40 out of the 192 Target KD viruses tested in this assay are considered to be less preferred. Further exclusion criteria used to define the present invention with more particularity are described below.

The TARGETS identified in this invention represent the basis for the identification of small molecule inhibitors developed for the treatment of RA. As such, the testing of such new candidate RA therapies in experimental models of arthritis is required before running experiments in human. The collagen-induced arthritis model in rat or mice is generally used as experimental model of arthritis. Consequently, targets, for which no ortholog can be found in rat or mice, are less preferred. Analysis of the 152 targets (identified through the experimental cascade (the “reverse MMP1” primary assay, the “reverse collagen degradation” secondary assay and the “TNFα/LPS IL8 induction assay”) revealed that 27 had no ortholog in rat or mice, leaving only 125 preferred targets. Further exclusion criteria involved the following in silico analyses:

“Drugability”. Targets were excluded if it could be determined that the development of a small molecule inhibitor would be predicted to be the least successful within a short timeframe. This analysis involved the assessment of the general drugability of the gene class to which a certain Target belongs based on pharmacology precedents. In addition, the existence of assays allowing the discovery of small molecule inhibitors of the Targets is evaluated. We found assays available for 69 out of the 125 Targets subjected to this analysis.

“Risk profile”. Target genes for which the corresponding “knock-out mice” phenotype is diseased or lethal are considered as having lower priority, as inhibition of the product of these genes by means of a small molecule is expected to cause part of this phenotype. The Targets that play an important role in basal metabolic functions of the cells or of the organism are also given lower priority. The risk profile is considered high for 18 out of the 69 targets analysed.

“Disease relevance.” Targets that are already linked to inflammatory processes or autoimmune processes are considered as more preferred.

The forgoing set of experiments and analyses permitted the narrowing of the present set of 16 most preferred TARGETs from the list of 323 targets.

Example 4 Analysis of the Expression Levels for Certain Targets Identified in Human Primary Synovial Fibroblasts Derived from Synovium of RA Patients

Expression levels for certain identified targets are determined in at least two different isolates of primary human synovial fibroblasts.

The RASFs isolates are obtained as cryo-preserved passage 2 cells from Cell Applications Inc. (Cat. No. 404-05). These cells are cultured and propagated in DMEM (Invitrogen) supplemented with 10% (v/v) heat-inactivated FBS (ICN) and 1× Pen/Strep (Invitrogen). For expression analysis, cells are cultured to passage 11.

For RNA preparation, the primary human synovial fibroblasts are seeded in 10-cm Petri dishes (500,000 cells/dish) in 6-well plates. After overnight incubation, medium is refreshed with 6 ml of M199 medium supplemented with 1% (v/v) heat-inactivated FBS containing 1× Pen/Strep. 24 hours later, total RNA is extracted using the “SV Total RNA Isolation kit” (Promega).

The concentration of RNA in each sample is fluorimetrically quantified using the “Ribogreen RNA quantitation kit” (Molecular Probes). A similar amount of RNA from each preparation is reverse transcribed into first strand cDNA with the “Taqman reverse transcription kit” from Applied Biosystems. Briefly, 40 ng RNA is included per 20 μl reaction mix containing 50 pmol of random hexamers, 10 U Rnase inhibitor, 25 U Multiscribe reverse transcriptase, 5 mM MgCl₂ and 0.5 mM of each dNTP. The reaction mixture is incubated at 25° C. for 10 minutes, followed by 30 minutes incubation at 48° C. and heat inactivation (5 minutes 95° C.) of the reverse transcriptase in a thermocycler (Dyad, M J Research). Reactions are immediately chilled to 4° C. at the end of the program. To avoid multiple freeze/thaw cycles of the obtained cDNA, the different samples are pooled in 96-well plates, aliquoted and stored at −20° C.

Real-time PCR reactions are performed and monitored using the “ABI PRISM 7000 Sequence Detection System Instrument” (Applied Biosystems). Pre-designed, gene-specific Taqman probe and primer sets for quantitative gene expression are purchased from Applied Biosystems as part of the “Assays on Demand” Gene expression products. These commercially available kits are quality checked by the supplier and allow quantitative determination of the amount of target cDNA in the sample. The “Assays on Demand” gene expression products are used according to the protocol delivered by the supplier. The PCR mixture consisted of 1× “Taqman Universal PCR Mastermix no AmpErase UNG” and 1× “Taqman Gene Expression Assay on Demand mix” and 5 ul of the retro-transcription reaction product (1-100 ng of RNA converted into cDNA) in a total volume of 25 ul. After an initial denaturation step at 95° C. for 10 minutes, the cDNA products are amplified with 40 cycles consisting of 95° C. for 15 sec, and 60° C. for 1 minutes To normalize for variability in the initial quantities of cDNA between different samples, amplification reactions with the same cDNA are performed for the housekeeping gene β-actin using the predeveloped β-actin “Assays on demand” primer set and Taqman probe mix and “Taqman Universal PCR Mastermix” (all Applied Biosystems) according to the manufacturer's instructions. To identify any contamination resulting from residual genomic DNA, real-time PCR reactions with product from a control (—RT) reverse transcription reaction that is performed under the same conditions but without the addition of the reverse transcriptase are included for each sample. Threshold cycle values (Ct), for example, the cycle number at which the amount of amplified gene of interest reached a fixed threshold are determined for each sample. For each sample, the ΔCt value is determined by substracting the Ct value of the endogenous control (β-actin) from the Ct value obtained for the target gene. A gene is considered as expressed in primary human SFs if the ΔCt value obtained for this hit is lower than 13.3 in at least one of the available 2 synovial isolates, activated or not. Genes with a ΔCt value below 9.9 are considered highly expressed in RASFs. The results of the expression profiling experiments are summarized in Table 5. The ΔCt value relative to β-actin obtained for various targets in 2 isolates of untriggered SFs are given in this Table 5.

TABLE 5 Determination of the Relative Expression Levels of the TARGETS in Primary Synovial Fibroblasts by Real-Time PCR Applied Biosystems Target gene Assay on demand, RA SF batch 2 RA SF batch 3 symbol Catalog number Ct DCt Ct DCt ARAF1 Hs00176427_m1 27 2.8 25.3 2.2 AXL Hs00242357_m1 25.9 1.6 23.6 0.5 KCNF1 Hs00266908_s1 40 14.86 29.3 4.46 MAPK12 NT NT NT NT MAPK13 Hs00559623_m1 29.9 6.2 29 6 NR2F6 Hs00172870_m1 27.2 2.9 24.2 1.83 SCN9A Hs00161567_m1 37.02 11.88 34.54 9.7 SLC9A8 Hs00392302_m1 30.76 5.62 28.56 3.72 CHRNA5 Hs00181248_m1 34.8 11.1 32.2 9.1 DGKB NT NT NT NT FGFR3 Hs00179829_m1 36.41 13.08 34.48 11.74 ILK Hs00177914_m1 26.8 3.2 24.4 1.3 NQO2 Hs00168552_m1 28.05 4.72 25.36 2.62

Example 5 Ad-siRNA Reduction of RASF Expression of ILK, CHRNA5, NQO2, KCNF1, SLC9A8. ARAF1, AXL, FGFR3, NR2F6, SCN9A, MAPK13 and DGKB Inhibit Cytokine-Induced MMP1 Expression in a Dose Dependent Manner

As described above, the screening of the SilenceSelect collection identifies a set of Ad5-siRNAs that exhibit the capacity to reduce the cytokine-induced RASF MMP1 expression. A subset of these viruses is tested in the “reverse MMP1 assay” at various concentrations in a dose response experiment.

SFs (passage 9 to 10) are seeded in 96 well plates at a density of 3000 cells/well in complete synovial growth medium (Cell Applications). One day later, the cells are infected with increasing amounts (3, 7.5, 12, or 15 μl) of the Ad5-MMP1_v10_KD (positive control) or Ad5-Luciferase_v13_KD (negative control). The virus load is corrected by addition of the neutral virus Ad5-Luciferase_v13_KD to bring the final virus volume on the cells to 15 μl in every well. This correction guarantees that the effects observed do not result from differences in the virus load applied to the cells. The cells are then incubated for 5 days before the activation step. This step involves the replacement, in every well, of the growth medium by 75 μl of M199 medium supplemented with 25 μl of “complex trigger”. 48 hours after the activation step, the supernatant is collected and subjected to the MMP1 ELISA as described previously. FIG. 11A shows the average of duplicate measurements.

This experiment clearly demonstrates that the application of increased amounts of Ad5-siRNA to RASFs will lead to an increased reduction of the expression of the target in the RASFs. In this case, applying increasing amounts of Ad5-MMP1_v10_KD to the cells leads to higher reduction in MMP1 protein expression by the cells. (FIG. 11A) Taken together, as increasing the amounts of Ad5-siRNA applied to RASFs will lead to greater reduction of the expression of the target in the RASFs, increasing the amounts of Ad5-siRNA targeting the genes listed in Table 1 is expected also to result in greater reduction of the cytokine induced MMP1 expression. The results of such dose response experiments are illustrated in FIG. 11B.

The Ad-siRNAs used in these dose response experiments are generated according to the procedure described in WO03/020931. The target sequences of these genes, on which the siRNAs are designed and used to generate the recombinant adenoviruses, are listed in Table 1. The Ad5-siRNA efficacy in the MMP1 ELISA is tested as described above with respect to the positive and negative controls with the only difference being that multiple Ad-siRNAs targeting the genes listed in Table 1 are used to infect the cells. The viruses used to infect the cells are shown on FIG. 1B with Ad5-eGFP-v5_KD, Ad5-Luciferase-v13_KD and Ad-M6PR-v1_KD used as negative controls, and Ad5-MMP1-v10_KD used as a positive control. The results of the experiment are shown in FIG. 11B.

The data shown in FIG. 11B is calculated as follows: For each plate analyzed, the raw signal (RLU) for Ad5-MMP1_v10-KD (positive control) at 15 μl is considered as the lowest possible signal (i.e., the strongest reduction of MMP1 expression that can be obtained), and therefore, is set as the background of the assay. All other signals for this plate are adjusted to account for this background signal. For each MOI, the signal obtained for a particular Ad5-Target-KD virus is then normalized to (divided by) the signal of the negative control virus obtained on the same plate (Ad5-eGFP-v5_KD, Ad5-Luciferase-v13_KD or Ad-M6PR-v1_KD). FIG. 11B shows that the Ad-siRNA viruses mediating the reduction in expression of ILK, CHRNA5, NQO2, KCNF1, SLC9A8, ARAF1, AXL, FGFR3, NR2F6, SCN9A, MAPK13 and DGKB in RASFs cause a significant reduction of cytokine-induced MMP1 expression by these cells. Clearly, greater amounts of Ad5-siRNAs result in greater reduction in MMP1 expression levels. These results indicate that the amount of Ad5-siRNA applied to the cells determines the strength of the reduction in MMP1 expression observed.

We conclude, from this experiment, that these genes represent valuable drug targets that are shown to modulate MMP1 expression in SFs, and that the inhibition of the activity of the protein product of these genes by an inhibitory agent, such as a small molecule compound, is expected to reduce “complex cytokine” induced MMP1 expression in the “reverse MMP1 assay”. We also believe that the inhibition of the activity of the protein products of these genes by such agents would also reduce the joint degradation observed in RA patients.

Table 1 lists multiple KD sequences produced for every TARGET gene identified in Table 1. Different Ad-siRNAs are generated from different target sequences within the TARGET mRNA. Although some of the Ad-siRNA viruses exhibit efficacy in the “reverse MMP1 assay,” we observe that some of these Ad-siRNA viruses do not exhibit efficacy in the “reverse MMP1 assay”. It should be understood, however, that not all shRNAs are as efficient in reducing target expression. There may be many cause of this difference in knockdown efficacy, including the physical availability of the target RNA to the siRNA degradation machinery (for example, in a three dimensional folding of any TARGET mRNA which is in close proximity with and/or binding to other cellular proteins, only a fraction of the mRNA may be “exposed” so as to provide a binding site for siRNA association), the potency of the target protein, degradation processes affecting the particular shRNA itself, and others. More particularly, the low efficacy of certain Ad-siRNAs in the “reverse MMP1 assay” may be explained by the level of reduction in target gene expression required to reduce cytokine-induced MMP1 expression by the cells. Some targets may require only 50% reduction to shut down the MMP1 pathway, while others may require 90% to achieve the same effect. Some targets may participate in metabolic pathways that compensate for target depletion, while others do not. As a consequence, testing these viruses at higher doses might lead to higher efficacy in the reverse MMP1 assay.

Example 6 Ad-siRNA-Induced Reduction of the RASF Expression of ILK, CHRNA5, NQO2, KCNF1, SLC9A8. ARAF1, AXL, FGFR3, NR2F6, SCN9A, MAPK12, MAPK13 and DGKB Inhibit Cytokine-Induced Collagen Degradation

Certain MMP subtypes (for example, MMP1, MMP13) are collagenases and have the remarkable capacity of degrading native collagen. Native collagen is organized in stable fibrils that are quite resistant to proteolytic events. As such, the degradation of native collagen can be used to monitor not only MMP1 but also the complete complement of collagenases produced by RASFs. Described herein is an assay developed to detect the cytokine-induced degradation of native collagen in the supernatant of RASF cultures.

“Miniaturized Collagen Type I Degradation Assay” protocol: (Reagents are from Chondrex, Redmond, Wash. (Collagenase assay kit) unless specified differently). A 96 well plate (V-bottom, Greiner) is filled with 9 μl of solution B and 1 μl of trypsin solution per well. 10 μl of sample (RASF supernatant) is added per well, followed by incubation for 15 minutes at 34° C. After incubation, 1 μl SBTI is added. 20 μl of FITC-Collagen mix (10 μl FITC-labeled collagen type I+10 μl solution A) are added to the activated sample followed by incubation for 24 hours at 34° C. 1 μl of 1,10 Phenantroline (Sigma) is added to the reaction mixture. One μl of enhancer solution (elastase) is added, followed by incubation for 30 minutes at 34° C. When the reaction mixture is at room temperature, 40 μl extraction buffer are added and the plate is sealed (Nunc seals) and vortexed. After centrifugation for 25 minutes at 4000 rpm (Beckman centrifuge), 50 μl of the supernatant are transferred into a black F-bottom plate (Greiner) and fluorescence is measured on a Fluostar reader (BMG), 480 nm excitation wavelength, 520 nm emission wavelength).

Ad5-siRNA efficacy in the “miniaturized collagen type I degradation assay” is tested as follows: SFs (passage 9 to 10) are seeded in 96 well plates at a density of 3000 cells/well in complete synovial growth medium (Cell Applications). One day later, the cells are infected with 5 or 10 μl of the Ad-siRNAs indicated on FIG. 12A. These KD viruses are arrayed on a 96 well plate along with 12 negative control viruses. The virus load is corrected by the addition of the neutral virus Ad5-Luciferase-v13_KD to bring the final virus volume on the cells to 15 μl in every well. This correction guarantees that the effects observed do not result from differences in the virus load applied to the cells. The cells are then incubated for 5 days before the activation step. This step involves the replacement, in every well, of the growth medium by 45 μl of M199 medium supplemented with 15 μl of “complex trigger”. Four days later, the supernatant is collected and subjected to the miniaturized collagen type I degradation assay according to the protocol described above. The results are analyzed as follows: The fluorescence signal obtained for the 12 negative controls is averaged for every plate. For each plate and each MOI (5 μl or 10 μl), the fluorescence signal observed for the samples emanating from cells infected with the KD viruses targeting the genes listed in Table 1 is expressed as a percent of the negative control average (set at 100%). Data shown in FIG. 12A are the average of duplicate measurements. The Ad-siRNAs targeting the genes listed in Table 2 do mediate a clear reduction of the complex trigger-induced collagen degradation by primary human SFs. We conclude, from this experiment, that these genes represent valuable drug targets that are shown to modulate not only MMP1 expression by RASFs but also collagen degradation by RASFs. Similarly, the inhibition of the activity of the protein product of these genes by an inhibitory agent, such as a small molecule compound, is expected to reduce the “complex cytokine” induced collagen degradation by SFs. We also believe that the inhibition of the activity of the protein products of these genes by such agents would also reduce the joint degradation observed in RA patients.

In similar experiments (FIG. 12 B), the Ad5-MMP1 v10-KD virus is shown to strongly reduce the cytokine induced collagen degradation by SFs, which suggests that MMP1 is the main collagenase responsible for the cytokine induced collagen degradation by SFs. This experiment is run according to the protocol described for the experiment depicted in FIG. 12A. Data shown in FIG. 12B are the average and standard deviation over the raw fluorescence signal emanating from eight data points. As such, this experiment demonstrates that modulation of SF expression of MMP1 is sufficient to reduce cartilage degradation associated with RA. As such, the reduction of MMP1 expression by RASFs is predictive for a reduced degradation of native collagen, one of the main components of bone and cartilage.

Example 7 Reduction of the Expression in RASFs of ARAF1, CHRNA5, DGKB, FGFR3, ILK, KCNF1, MAPK12, MAPK13, NQO2, NR2F6, and SCN9A by Ad-siRNAs Inhibit Cytokine-Induced IL-8 Expression

To better understand the profile of the TARGETS (identified according to the experiments described in previous examples), and to probe for the specificity of TARGET expression reduction effects, IL8, another inflammation marker different from MMP1, is used in the following example. This example measures the effect of TARGET expression reduction in RA SFs on TNFα-induced IL8 expression. IL8 expression is increased by TNFα, and plays a role in inflammatory events. Additionally, a small molecule inhibitor of the IL8 receptor has been shown to have efficacy in an animal model of arthritis (See Weidner-Wells MA et al., Bioorg Med Chem Lett. (2004)14:4307-11, “Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of 3,5-diarylisoxazoles and 3,5-diaryl-1,2,4-oxadiazoles, novel classes of small molecule interleukin-8 (IL-8) receptor antagonists”. As such, achieving inhibition of IL8 expression is a desired feature for an RA therapeutic.

“IL-8 assay” protocol: SFs (passage 9 to 12) are seeded in 96 well plates at a density of 3000 cells/well in complete synovial growth medium (Cell Applications). One day later, the cells are infected with two amounts (6 or 12 μl) of the KD viruses. The cells are then incubated for 5 days before the activation step. The activation step involves the replacement, in every well, of the growth medium by 150 μl of DMEM supplemented with 10% Fetal Bovine serum (heat inactivated) and the trigger (2 ng/ml recombinant human TNFalpha). 48 hours after the activation step, 80 μl of the supernatant is collected and diluted for use in the IL-8 ELISA described below. For the samples triggered with TNFalpha, a 40 fold dilution is made in PBS+1% BSA. 35 μl from these dilutions are added to the IL-8 ELISA plates.

White Lumitrac 600 384 well plates (Greiner) are coated with 0.5 μg/ml anti-IL8 antibody MAB208(R&D). The antibody is diluted in 1× PBS (Gibco). After overnight incubation at 4° C., plates are washed once with 1× PBST (80 g NaCl, 2 g KCl (Sigma), 11.5 g Na₂HPO₄.7H₂O and 2 g KH₂PO₄ in 10 L milliQ; pH 7.4=10× PBS solution+0.05% tween-20 (sigma)), once with PBS 1×, and blocked with 80 μl blocking buffer (1% BSA+5% sucrose+0.05% NaN3). One day later, the blocking buffer is removed from the ELISA plates by inverting the plate and tapping it on an absorbent paper. The plate is washed with 90 μl PBST and 90 μl PBS 1×. Immediately thereafter, the plate is further processed and 35 μl of the diluted supernatant is added. After overnight incubation at 4° C., the plates are washed once with PBST and once with PBS (as described above) and incubated with 35 μl/well biotinylated anti-IL 8 antibody solution BAF208 (R&D) 50 ng/ml in PBS 1×+1% BSA. After 2 hours of incubation at room temperature, plates are washed as described above and incubated with 50 μl/well streptavidin-HRP conjugate (Biosource). Streptavidin-HRP conjugate is diluted 1/2000 times in PBS 1×+1% BSA. After 45 minutes, plates are washed as described above and incubated for 5 minutes with 50 μl/well BM Chem ELISA Substrate (Roche). Readout is performed on the Luminoscan Ascent Luminometer (Labsystems) with an integration time of 100 msec.

Twenty negative controls are included in the 96 well plates. The percentage inhibition of IL8 expression is calculated as follows. First, the background signal of the ELISA (in the absence of IL8) is substracted from all values for all samples. Then the following formula is applied: % inhibition=[100×(((Average value all negative controls)−value TARGET sample)/(Average value all negative controls))]. From the results depicted in FIG. 13, we conclude that expression for most TARGETS mediated a reduced TNFα-driven IL8 expression, with strongest effects seen for MAPK12, MAPK13 and ARAF1 and weakest effects observed for SLC9A8 and AXL.

TABLE 6 Summary of the Features of the TARGET Genes Knock down data Inhibition of Gene MMP1 collagen IL-8 symbol Expression* Inhibition** degradation*** Inhibition**** ARAF1 SP SP SP SP AXL SP P SP N CHRNA5 P P SP P DGKB NT SP SP P FGFR3 P P SP P ILK SP SP SP P KCNF1 SP P SP P MAPK12 NT N SP SP MAPK13 SP SP SP SP NQO2 SP SP SP P NR2F6 SP SP SP P SCN9A P P SP P SLC9A8 SP P SP N P: positive response in the assay SP: Strong positive response in the assay NT: not tested N: negative response in the assay *Expression in primary RASFs: Genes with DCt <13 are considered expressed (P), genes with DCt >9.9 are considered strongly expressed (SP) **Inhibition of cytokine mixture induced MMP1 expression by RASFs >50% reduction in MMP1 expression is considered a strong positive response in the assay ***Inhibition of cytokine induced collagen degradation by RASFs >50% reduction in cytokine induced collagen degradation is considered a strong positive response in the assay ****Inhibition of TNFα induced IL-8 expression by RASFs >20% inhibition of TNFα induced IL-8 expression is considered a significant response in the assay (P), >50 inhibition is considered a strong positive response in the assay 

1. A method for identifying a compound that inhibits extra-cellular matrix degradation comprising contacting a compound with a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:18, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62 or 64 in an in vitro cell-free preparation; and measuring the binding affinity of said compound in said in vitro preparation; selecting a candidate compound for confirmation as an inhibitor of extra-cellular matrix degradation, which candidate compound is selected based on its binding affinity for one or more of the polypeptide of the aforesaid SEQ ID Nos.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said compound is a peptide in a phage display library or an antibody fragment library.
 3. A method for identifying a compound that inhibits extra-cellular matrix degradation in a mammalian cell that expresses an extra-cellular matrix degrading protein, and that expresses a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 18, said method comprising (a) contacting a compound with a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:18, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62 or 64, in an in vitro cell-free preparation; (b) determining the binding affinity of said compound in said in vitro preparation; (c) contacting said compound having binding affinity to, and capable of forming a complex with, said polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:18 with a mammalian cell, in which said polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:18 is expressed, and which expresses an extra-cellular matrix degrading protein; and (d) measuring levels of one or more extra-cellular matrix degrading proteins expressed by said mammalian cell; and (e) determining if said levels of said one or more extra-cellular matrix degrading proteins are decreased compared to levels of said extra-cellular matrix degrading proteins expressed in said mammalian cell that is not contacted with said compound.
 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the extra-cellular matrix degrading protein is selected from the group consisting of matrix metallo protease and Cathepsin.
 5. The method according to claim 3 wherein said compound having binding affinity to, and capable of forming a complex with, said polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:18 exhibits a binding affinity of at least 10 micromolar.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said mammalian cell is a synovial fibroblast.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein each of said mammalian synovial fibroblast that is contacted with said compound and that is not contacted with said compound is contacted with a cytokine agonist or with cytokine-producing cells.
 8. A method for identifying a compound that inhibits extra-cellular matrix degradation in a mammalian cell that expresses an extra-cellular matrix degrading protein, and that expresses a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 18, said method comprising (a) contacting a compound with a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:18, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62 or 64, in an in vitro cell-free preparation; (b) determining the binding affinity of said compound in said in vitro preparation; (c) contacting said compound having binding affinity to, and capable of forming a complex with, said polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:18 with a mammalian cell, in which said polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:18 is expressed, and which expresses an extra-cellular matrix degrading protein; and (d) measuring levels of ion channel activity in said mammalian cell; and (e) determining if said levels of ion channel activity in said mammalian cell contacted with said compound are decreased as compared to levels of said ion channel activity in said mammalian cell that is not contacted with said compound; selecting a candidate compound, based on its level of ion channel activity, for confirmation as an inhibitor of extra-cellular matrix degradation.
 9. The method according to claim 8 further comprising the steps of (f) measuring levels of one or more extra-cellular matrix degrading protein expressed by said mammalian cell; and (g) determining if said levels of said one or more extra-cellular matrix degrading protein expressed by said mammalian cell are decreased as compared to levels of said extra-cellular matrix degrading protein expressed in said mammalian cell that is not contacted with said compound.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the extra-cellular matrix degrading protein is selected from the group consisting of matrix metallo protease and Cathepsin.
 11. The method according to claim 9, wherein said compound having binding affinity to, and capable of forming a complex with, said polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:18 exhibits a binding affinity of at least 10 micromolar.
 12. The method according to claim 9, wherein said mammalian cell is a synovial fibroblast.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein each of said mammalian synovial fibroblast that is contacted with said compound and that is not contacted with said compound is contacted with a cytokine agonist or with cytokine-producing cells.
 14. The method according to claim 3, wherein said polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:18.
 15. The method according to claim 3, wherein said polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62 or
 64. 16. The method according to claim 8, wherein said polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:18.
 17. The method according to claim 8, wherein said polypeptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62 or
 64. 